Dee Zephyr

Received a text about the Zephyr a short time ago and it goes a little something like this. Pat Carey has decided to run the horse tomorrow. They view the wide barrier as an opportunity to alter his racing pattern for the race. They will ride the horse cold and see if he can run on, only once has he raced at the back of the field and although not by choice that day the horse rattled home for a close third. The track is a concern but apparently Pakenham has a really good drainage system in place and the track should dry up a bit.

Looks a tough race to pick Macca, I like Tom Melbourne again and will stick with him. Looking at the link I noticed 6 out of the last 10 Classics have been won by favourites and only 2 in double figure odds. I don't base my selections on past runnings but I do find the history of past races interesting.

Sorry mate, forgot to get back to you on that as I was between watching the boys train this morning and fighting a losing battle with a 3 and 9 year old at Goschs. They have avoided soft to heavy tracks in the past but he's ran a second out of two starts on the soft. No heavy runs to date. The decision on whether they scratch him will be based on the condition of the track, barrier also an issue.

I like it Wadda, I will suggest it to the syndicate manager.

Dan Zephyr in his old winning colours. I asked my friend to send me one and he sends me this, I could've gone on google myself.

I left prior to the completion of the session and wanted to add some notes to the earlier report. I focused on the individuals as I wanted to have a look at the new arrivals. I realise it's only a training session and the constant yellow bib swapping made it a tad difficult to follow everyone but the following stood out during the three quarter field match sim. Lever has an uncanny ability to get himself out of tight situations with quick feet and thinking. Can certainly fool opponents with the selling of candy so to speak. Fritch is a smooth mover and has a great left foot whether having a shot or general field passing. He can certainly find space. Hogan was impressive, if he didn't mark the ball in a contest he would quickly apply pressure to his opponents by tackling or slapping the ball free, he earned praise numerous times by the coaches for this. He outmuscled Oscar in a one on one and took the mark, which raised a bit of a roar from the group. This is by no means Oscar bashing as we should expect Jesse to do that to anyone he comes up against. In another passage of play the ball was kicked forward to the non bib team and Oscar found himself sandwiched between 3 of them in the marking contest and almost marked the ball, when the ball hit the ground he killed the contest and the defence cleared. Great work Oscar but not sure why 3 from the same team would all go up for the mark unless it was an instruction. Oliver is a great kick of the footy, he hit targets over distance all session. They all trained with intent but something about Harmes stood out, can't pinpoint exactly, maybe it's the new number. He just seemed faster over the ground. I don't know much about King but golly he's a big unit. Hannan and Johnstone ran laps early on and joined in later on with some of the drills. As mentioned before Johnstone has put some muscle on. I heard someone tell his kids that Tyson and Hunt were indoors today hence their no show. Has anyone heard anything about these two recently?

Lol, just some basic notes until the more comprehensive posters bob up.

Arrived at training when the main group was coming out. Jeffy was running laps for about half an hour at a decent clip with Hibberd. Both left early. Viney, Vanders and J Smith showed up briefly and headed back inside. Tyson and Hunt no shows today, no clue as to the reason. Spargo and Petty were on restricted duties and also left early. Spotted the Weed briefly participating in a handball drill with one of the coaches, also early shower. The rest of the group seem to moving extremely well in the various drills. They are currently in what seems like a full ground simulation. Fritch is on the end of several plays and is a very good shot at goal. Im trying to take as many notes as possible but a certain 3 year old keeps screaming for water and milkshakes. Kent has participated for most part and seems free moving. Oskar Baker is putting in some hard yards around the ground with running. Lever very vocal as is Jetta. Like it. Harmes looking really impressive in the match drill, covering the ground well. Will have some more updates a bit later on.

Spoke to mate yesterday and they might scratch the horse again. If they go ahead with the scratching he will have a jump out on Monday to keep him ticking over and race at Caulfield next Saturday. I also like De Little Engine for the cup Wadda. Great run last time.

I'll be popping down to have a look at the boys train tomorrow, hoping to see some fellow Demonlanders there.

The Zephyr has accepted for the 1400m Gold Bullion but once again has drawn the car park. Barrier 16 from 16, no luck with the barriers at the moment. Looks like a very tricky race and quite tough to win it. Scroll to race 8 to check out the early form. http://racingaustralia.horse/FreeFields/Acceptances.aspx?Key=2017Dec09,VIC,Racing.com Park

Hi Wadda, Dan Zephyr has been nominated for two decent races at Pakenham this coming Saturday. A 1200m handicap and the 1400m Gold Bullion. Both races carry good prize money and we will find out tomorrow which race they choose when acceptances come out. He was scratched on Ballarat Cup day because of the wide barrier (14) but my mate was a little peeved when they bypassed the Ballarat race and chose Warrnambool a few days later and accepted with barrier 13. Not much difference there so he couldn't quite understand the decision. As it turned out the Bool meeting was abandoned and the horse has done some good work since his last run. Will have more updates later on this week.

.......and meeting abandoned.

Dan Zephyr racing tonight at Warnambool Race 7 at 7pm. I have no word as yet, I see he's drawn wide again though. Sorry for the late notice, i was made aware a short time ago.

There was talk about West Coast being into Fritch. Were we always drafting him at 31 or was that to trump West Coast at 32? I noticed the Eagles asked for extended time with pick 32.

By golly, 80% of 185,000, wow. That stings mate! You make a great point about common sense prevailing, we were so wrapped up in the all up at 85/1 we didn't stop to think if we were to win the bet we would also get the quad if we went field/field. My mate was away all weekend so I'll speak to him tonight and find out about Dan and the reason they scratched him and also future plans. I missed the races last Saturday at Ascot due to work, look forward to you and Macca giving me some tips this weekend.

Hi Wadda, Dan Zephyr has been a great little horse for connections. He's had some terrific runs. If you look a bit further back on October of 2016 he ran 4th to Redzel by 1.9 lengths first up at $51. We know Redzel is possibly the best sprinter in the country right now. Here is a story that will make you shake your head. An ex stablemate of Dan was a horse by the name of Shakespearean Lass which I was also a part of a while back. My mate stayed in as a part owner and both horses ran at Caulfield in February of 2016. Dan was in the opening leg of the quaddie and the Lass was in the second leg. My mate and I took the all up on fixed odds at 85-1. Both horses saluted that day but do you think we placed a quaddie? Third and fourth legs of the quad paid about $20 each for the win and the quad that day paid in excess of 100k. If we had placed even $20 for a quaddie it would have given us about 15% with field/field in the last two legs. We still talk about that missed opportunity. As they say ' That's Racing!'

As long as they are all competitive beasts, bring their own skillset to the team and make competition for spots fierce we should be happy. They are part of the MFC family now and good luck to them, hopefully a couple of them surprise us in the upcoming season.

The MFC faithful to change Oskar Bakers nickname from ' The Ginga Ninja' ( cool nickname btw) to ' The Bread Man' as he will deliver the goods when selected mid-season.

Hi Wadda, not sure why they scratched the horse, will keep you posted on its next run.

Did they say on Fox he fractured his elbow the other day jumping a fence?

I'm unsure of how it would work in the AFL, I follow the NHL closely and they have a trade deadline around early March each year just prior to the play-offs commencing. Teams vying for a play-off spot will look to acquire a seasoned veteran or a consistent scorer to enhance their chances whilst a team with no chance of making the play-offs will look to offload veterans to acquire young prospects or draft picks for future seasons. Its basically a period of increased player movement. That's a simplistic way of explaining it. The NHL regular season commences in early October and ends in early April. Each team have a full five months to sort out their specific needs by the time the deadline arrives. In the AFL after five months we are at finals stage, not sure how they could manage a trade period mid-season in a shorter time frame. Edit: Players that are signed by an NHL team participating in the play-offs prior to the deadline might only get signed up for the upcoming play-offs and can get offloaded to another team for the next season.

Hi all. Dan Zephyr has accepted on Ballarat Cup day. Lumped with 61kg but Jack Martin will take the ride and claim the 3kg. Once again unlucky drawing barrier 14. Will have more updates later in the week to determine whether the horse is worth a buck or two.

Lever yesterday at training " I want to help this club become great again." Today on Sen " I spoke to Collingwood but it was always Melbourne due to the age demographic." Good on you Jake!

Hi Macca, we finished season 2 of 'Stranger Things' a few days ago. We thought it was brilliant entertainment. Knew very little about the show, so glad I had a look at this thread. I'll put 'Chance' on the list, we enjoy the thrillers, cheers. We need to watch as much TV as possible to combat the long wait for the ' Game Of Thrones' finale.