The Sydney carnival delivered on the track and in the record books, even fighting bravely in a losing battle against Mother Nature.
The quality of the racing shone through, although some indicators were down in terms of crowds and betting turnovers, which were both obviously affected by the poor weather.
The carnival was opened by champion Winx in the Chipping Norton Stakes on a very heavy Randwick track in miserable conditions and closed by Polarisation giving Godolphin its first Sydney Cup, again on a heavy track, two months later. Wet tracks were unfortunately to become a common theme.
However, the carnival has re-established its place in Australian racing and will only go from strength to strength. The stars delivered.
There was the exhilaration of Chautauqua's third TJ Smith that left Team Hawkes and most punters on course at Randwick buzzing.
"When he is like that, there is nothing like it in racing," co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.
Well, maybe. But there is Winx. She was the focus of the carnival and she delivered with three group 1s. It is the expected rather than the unexpected that makes Winx so good.
She was supposed to win in front of a record crowd, and she did just that with ease in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
"She's a supreme athlete, she's the ultimate professional, I love her," said Hugh Bowman, who led the jockeys standing with five group 1 wins and netted more the $5 million from his top-level rides.
Chris Waller led all trainers on back of Winx's three group 1 wins, with Foxplay adding another in the Coolmore Legacy Stakes.
The six pillars of the carnival, races worth $2 million or more, went to six different trainers and six different jockeys, ending when Corey Brown capped his return to Sydney from Singapore by winning on Polarisation in the re-run of the Sydney Cup on Saturday.
"You just need to win and that's why it was important to get that Sydney Cup for the second time," Brown said. "I'm starting to get back to where I was but winning is important because it helps with rides down the track."
Appleby's insight
Godolphin's Newmarket trainer Charlie Appleby continues to get it right with the horses he brings to Australia. Polarisation's win in the Sydney Cup was a triumph of planning for wet conditions with a tough stayer that was well weighed.
Appleby will return in the spring and would be planning his team at the moment for races like the Caulfield and Melbourne cups and it is more than likely that it will be a horse not seen in Australia, which will be one to follow in the spring
Dates restructure
The delayed Sydney Cup was a bridge too far for most punters to get to Randwick on Saturday. There were only around 3000 on track to see Polarisation win the cup, which was partly down to no functions booked for the rescheduled race, but as one official said "people are just raced out".
The window of public focus for the sport is getting smaller and in that window racing needs to do a better job of giving the public a quality product on each day of the carnival.
A restructure of dates is being mooted but a move of the Golden Slipper is ridiculous because the reasons for it being on the second last Saturday of March are still there.
The move to that date was to get it away from The Championships and not clash with the Dubai World Cup, allowing the world's best jockeys, like Ryan Moore, to ride at Rosehill's showcase meeting.
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