Beware the Flag Favourite Punters, Beware the Flag

Do you know what today’s 5 horse Challenge Stakes at Randwick on the Heavy 10 reminds me of?

The 1984 Missile Stakes at Rosehill.

All we need now is a flag start.

For those too young to remember it – which is pretty much anyone under the age of 50 – the Missile was run on a track so wet that the starting stalls sunk into the sodden turf and got bogged.

They had to start the race from a free stand with a flag, sort of like the trots without tapes.

A first starter named Plus Vite got the jump, went straight to the lead, by sheer good luck found the only fast lane on the track, and won in the upset of the decade.

He was 100-1.

Ahead Start and Shelby Sixty-Six are today in the Challenge Stakes, which is no surprise given that they are rating 66 and 68 gallopers taking on Nature Strip and Eduardo, the two best sprinters in the land.

A win by either seems impossible.

So did Plus Vite’s.

This is racing, anything can happen.

All the pair need is a flag.

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