Out-of-town Features

The NJC hosts its Autumn feature meeting today on the Beaumont course, the inner track at Broadmeadow.

Showers have prevailed since dawn and promise to loiter through the programme. With the rail reverting to true I anticipate the velodrome-like configuration to suit wide draws and runners, although the new course has been hard to label since its October debut.

The salad days for Provincial features are in the distant past, with two and even three day carnivals reduced to just Newcastle in September. Promising types abounded in the lower grade races, invariably proceeding to town with a spring in their step.

Alas, nowadays the accompanying programme is a drab rehash of any typical Thursday out of town, surprising given the leading yards’ expressed desire for the testing capaciousness of Broadmeadow/Beaumont, Hawkesbury or Kembla Grange.

Fault must partly lie with the prevalence of Metropolitan midweek maidens, a product of relatively recent times and a grade that is out of place in the City.

Racing NSW, with its supply-side emphasis, has heavily promoted the extensive programming of maidens in response to the observation that most thoroughbreds are winless. Witless, in my opinion.

There is a desperate need for a programming revamp to inject some life into the dull Provincial Scene.

Step one, JUNK MAIDENS! The idea that winless horses should be specially catered for is unappetising.

I propose 2 kinds of Provincial events. One for those who have won at the Provincials (or better) and the other for those who haven’t.

Suddenly multiple country winners from Today’s nightcap such as Centro Superior, Hammond Lane and Wigginout could take on the younger, more lightly-raced combatants currently tagged as maidens in Today’s race two.

I’m betting on the maiden brigade, but at least there’d be a variety of opinion on offer.

Punters use prizemoney as a guide to class, so it’s lunacy to prevent a winner of an $6k race in the bush from taking on the non-winners for $22k at the Provincials.

On the subject of race 2, “the ten-to-two”, there is a contest on display. Deploy drops back from City grade for the first time with the addition of Blinkers, but is from a fresh-up yard and now deep in his preparation. Reincarnate reappears a gelding, and an unheralded local, Back To Jacko, resumes at home, with blinkers and a tongue-tie, after finding the slow lane in a black-type event at his second start.

As for the feature, the Newmarket at “four-fifteen” is presentable enough. Nancy is typically well-found, and River Lad looks set to improve off an on-pace last-start effort in his first appearance at his new home.

@justideal