The track at Trentham today was off and over-watered once again as the times were poor all day with a G1 mile run in 1:36.48, which is ridiculously slow and it was the best mile time of the day. This G1 1200m is for the first half of the race at least run down a chute that is bionic to say the least and never ever judge a Trentham track by times run from 800m to 1200m, as it is an exercise in futility for forensic fact finding. The so called Dead4 track was not that and clearly worse both visually and time wise in large sections plus it had a much faster strip of inside lanes as results showed all day, so backrunners that came deep had no chance whatsoever. They copped two brutal bias slaps with one open handed for where they settled down and the other, a backhander, for what part of the run home they came. This race is fast becoming the boilover event or blowout stakes as longshots win this now regularly and the Australian bred Enzo’s Lad won today paying $74. The three winners prior to today have been $46 (last year), $80 and $27, so the Telegraph Handicap is now the KO Stakes for bettors. Enzo’s Lad showed the track bias was absurd when trailing the leader Ferrando (it in finished a close third) and coming off its heels then nailing it at the 50m. The 5yo gelding won by a short neck in 1:08.30 and was recording just his fifth win in twenty starts, so was way out of his depth today and weighted somehow on 55.5kg but it made no difference. The time may sound okay but this century it is the fourth slowest time and consider that the worst time since 2000m of 1:09.36 by Vonusti in 2010 came on a Slow7 track, so this was just six lengths superior. The rider of Enzo’s Lad was an apprentice and only one other runner in the field had a pilot of that lesser experience notably. Kawi came with a stupendous late run for second and he wins with 10m more. He was one of the few runners all day to boom home from so far away turning in and almost beat the blatant track bias. The 7yo gelding under 59kg even after seven G1 wins prior from 1400m to 2000m could be attributed today with his best career effort at 1200m. He was in the rear quartet on settling and then using his big frame the rider atop pushed some rivals out of the way rather aggressively turning for home to get out into clear air. Kawi ran the quickest last 600m obviously and did so under equal topweight. Ferrando led up and was not going at super high speed as the last 600m of the first sixteen runners home today was 34 seconds and change or faster staggeringly. This was a G1 sprint that turned into a sprint home and that is what makes the Kawi effort even more commendable because if they go a fraction harder in the lead then he wins for sure. Team Rogerson were deflated after Ferrando ran third beaten a short neck and half a neck, not just because of the close margin of defeat but because the track was off and he likes it hard and fast. On proper dry ground he has raced four times for three wins and close Listed third. Passing Shot sat outside the leader and ran fourth beaten just under a length and a half to confirm this race bias at the finish but also once again to highlight the massiveness of Kawi’s close second. Heroic Valour ran a sound fifth beaten just over half a length and he was the next best run on horse home after an average start and settling back plus he was half a kilo overweight which is universally accepted as a no-no at G1 level. Carnival was a brave sixth at $55 after being third wide near the pace throughout and her effort once again highlighted the race pace bias at the finish. Volpe Veloce, the last start G1 Railway (1200m) winner in a reduced field due to late scratchings on a very biased and wet Ellerslie track, got back and ran on late but her closing ping was not as it has been shown before. Miss Wilson and Chambord were not too bad from the back while Volks Lightning was off the track in the midfield doing overtime and only got beaten just over three and a half lengths. Rock My Soul at $100 ran eleventh beaten three and three-quarter lengths showing this was not a gut-busting and lung-burning sprint. Sacred Star was not too bad either for a first run in eighteen months. Signify, which won this last year in an upset, was thirteenth beaten over six lengths at $53 (so $7 rougher than last year incredibly), but was so far back and very wide that the effort was okay as he came down the outer in a part of the track that was a waste of time using all day. Sensei was slow out and his race was over then while Packing Eagle and Start Wondering, the second and fourth finishers in the G1 Railway last start, both flopped big time showing the Ellerslie track was absurdly biased that day. Remember the winner Volpe Veloce could only run seventh as favourite today and she beat the above pair home by three lengths basically today so they lost a length and lengths and a half respectively. Starvoia was poor and Rocanto was struggling when it got the big don’t argue and get out of the way by Kawi turning for home. Four winners on the card today were Australian bred and one was this was G1 feature over 1200m and another was the G3 Wellington Cup over 3200m, so that latter should be raising the hackles of New Zealand breeders surely. It must be like beating the All Blacks in New Zealand (aside from Eden Park in Auckland of course) for an Australian bred to win one of the three major 3200m races each season. It is stamina sacrilege surely but also telling that things have changed dramatically and what was once a New Zealand stronghold is now just for 3yo stamina, which does not guarantee anything whatsoever as a 4yo or older nowadays unfortunately. The track was biased and this was not a true testing 1200m so the result is very dubious indeed and backed up by the disappointment of so many in this and in particular the G1 Railway held on Jan 1 at Ellerslie. The first four home in that race were covered by two lengths and they ran today seventh, tenth, fifteenth and sixteenth covered by just over three and a half lengths. Inexplicables happen in thoroughbred horse racing and when a multitude of things align like planets such as and off and biased track, not a testing time run and of course main rivals all out the back or too far away and wide, then you can get a Telegraph Handicap blowout. The one thing that is consistent in the last four years however is longshot winners and the last two have been South Island trained runners and success at this level is very rare indeed in the North Island this century at least. Trentham is the most likely track for South Islanders to do something at this level but then the cupboard gets very bare and for a long time.