Sound Action

[Imagele]

How good is Sound Action. Could we be looking at the next Sunline.?
I notice that Sunline won her 1st. 7 starts and at the end of that campaign rated 66.5 with a win in a 3YO G1 race at Randwick, according to the ratings on Ozeform.
On winning her 6th. race on end at Morphetville, 3YOF G1 over 2000m., Sound Action's rating was 65.5.
When she wins the S.A. Oaks on saturday she could well eclipse the deeds of Sunline in her initial campaign.
If she stays sound, I reckon she will be figuring prominently around Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup time.
Her performances to date have been awesome.

[osulldj]

Easy on there Imagele :smile:

Thought I would share my own thoughts based on observations and my own Ratings. These ratings are speed and pace based, maintained for every single horse that races in an event covered by any TAB across Australia (automatically plus some of my own review and personal judgement).

Let me just say at the start that I think Sound Action is a very good 3YO filly, the best in Australia at the moment.

My Benchmark Ratings have her last two performances at 101.2 and 101.7, which is damn good for a 3YO Filly.

The thing to note about her last win though in the Schweppes Oaks is that the pace was only very moderate and she was able to sprint very well over the final section, the sign of a good horse. In short she was ideally suited in that event and won the way she should given her ability. I would call it a good win...but given the way she was suited, certainly not Awesome.

To put her ratings in perspective, following are the best 3YO staying ratings so far this Autumn. I have also added in brackets the Ozeform peak ratings for each horse during the Autumn:

Clangalang 103.9 (68, 70)
Mummufy 103.3 (66.5, 67.5)
Natural Blitz 103.1 (67, 67,5)
Sound Action 101.7 (65)
Sound Action 101.2 (65)
Shower of Roses 98.7 (68, 66.5)
Fine Society 98.1 (63)
Helenus 97.2 (67)

The top 3 are all Colts. Sound Action twice rates ahead of all the other fillies and is about 1 length behind the top 3 colts of the Autumn. I still think she has further improvement left in her. Ozeform has it similar although I think they have slightly overrated Shower of Roses and Helenus..but we all have our different opinions. I will stick to my numbers over Ozeform anyway :smile: (they are not the numbers Mark Read uses for his own ratings).

With Sound Action are we looking at the next Sunline? Definitely not.

Imagele, I don't think you can really directly compare their 1st preparations as you call it. Sunlines was as a spring 3YO, where as Sound Action's is as an Autumn 3YO. There is a massive difference as 3YO's develop and strengthen quite a deal the longer the season goes on.

The best comparison is their 3YO Autumn form and really there is no comparison.

Following a similar line with my own ratings...Sunlines ratings as an Autumn 3YO were 108.7 followed by 111.4 in the MV Oaks and an incredible 112.2 in the Doncaster. Sound Action has rated 101.7 so far.

Ozeform has the same runs rated as 68, 69.5 and 74.5 in the Doncaster....well ahead of Sound Actions 65 which I think is fair.

Sunline won a Doncaster as an 3YO beating the country's best milers, Sound Action has beaten the 2nd tier of 3YO fillies and was ideally suited in doing so.

Please don't get me wrong, i'm not taking anything away from Sound Action, purely trying to provide some analysis to put it in the perspective I see. She is the best middle distance 3YO filly racing in Australia at the moment and is just a shade below the best colts. I hope she can go on to bigger and better things, but she should never be mentioned in the same breath as Sunline.

Good discussion...this is what forums should be about....lets see more of it.

[Imagele]

G'day osulldj
Thanks for your lengthy analysis on this subject. You are obviously very learned in this field where-as I am a self professed rank amateur offering a contoversial opinion to create some discussion.(I'm a bit surprised that you are the only bite so far):)
The only thing I will add is that I don't think that Sound Action has had another horse in her sight yet at the winning post.
Do you think she could have found another 2 Lengths at the end of the S A Oaks.?
Thanks for enlightening me concerning the Ozeform ratings versus those used by Mark Read.
I Have often thought that these ratings are more akin to the ratings used by official handicappers.
Have a nice day.

[osulldj]

Hi Imagele,

Enjoyment of racing is also about having an opinion, discussing topics and even being a bit controversial...even if it's just to see who will bite :smile:

Could Sound Action have found another 2 lengths in the Oaks? Don't know.

There is a big difference to how a horse can perform when it has things easy and how they perform when under pressure and they have to fight. When horses win easily we automatically assume they could have found another couple of lengths. Experience tells me that they don't have as much to find as we believe...and it's all to do with pressure.

Pressure conditions seem to call on more than a horses raw ability...things such as determination and courage to keep giving under extreme pain and duress. That's what sepearates the good horses from the outstanding ones. The most notable example is Northerly.

Sound Action has a high degree of "brilliance" but is yet to be tested under conditions of pressure. It's then that we will really see her true qualities and calibre.

It sounds a bit illogical to say that because one can argue that the reason she hasn't been under pressure is because she is too good...and that's partially true. But when she meets top opposition and has to fight to win, we will get a good gauge of just how good she is.

I hope she goes on to win the Oaks...we need horses like her to stimulate interest and excitment in racing.

[Imagele]

Hi osulldj
Raw ability, determination, courage,keep giving under pain and duress.
Those marvellous descriptions could be describing the attributes that I need right now after having the Fav. going for $1500-00 in the last leg of the Wang. Quaddy today.
I've just visited Ozeform again to check on the credentials of the winner, Madame Carrera, and realised I passed over a horse that had placed behind Wyngrove in a 1MW event in Queensland last June.
Her ratings during this period would have seen her the clear top pick.
Sorry this has nothing to do with the subject but I had to tell someone. :smile:

[nevets]

as ive stated in another thread ive layed a hundred at1.80 and im waiting to see what i can get for my other hundred tomorrow .......but if she makes the turn and kicks ill be cheerin her on

[Imagele]

G'day osulldj
What is your expert analysis of the the run of Sound Action.
Was she flat, did she fail to stay, was she a victim of her own slow pace,is she now rated inferior to the horse that placed 3rd.?
I look forward to your views.

[Chrome Prince]

Hi guys,

Don't think she got the distance.

[topsy99]

had a win on the oaks.
i had given 3 good chances in the race
sound action
milanova
and larrocha

i discarded the favourite for what i felt was a historical good reason and one which i am not to mention on this forum.

[Imagele]

Howdy Chrome.:smile:
The last 600 was run in faster time than the Goodwood hcp.
Was the race won by a stayer or a sprinter? Sound Action looked like she needed 2 miles.
Topsy,is your historical reason something to do with Oaks double.?

[osulldj]

Hi Imagele,

Sound Action had an easy enough run and was able to make them go very slow early and turn it into a sprint home. The final section of 34.49 was the 2nd fastest of the day and was quicker than the Goodwood which is remarkable for a 2500m event. Thats not to say there was anything remarkable about the race, it just highlights how slow they went early...the final time was very slow as a result.

There's any argument that says Sound Action didn't run the trip and that may be true. At this stage though I would prefer to think that up to 7 straight runs in what was effectively her first campaign and going from 1225 to 2500 at group level was a bit too much....especially for a filly. It's a huge ask for any horse and not too many do it successfully.

The trainer clearly didn't have the Oaks in mind when she started her preparation and nor would you expect her to. It seemed a case where Sound Action showed increasing ability each time she race and then they started to think about targetting something big...like the Oaks. One thing is for sure, if you were going to genuinely plan to target a race like the that she wouldn't have had that kind of preparation and certainly not that many runs before hand. The risk of going over the top and training off with such a young horse is far too great...and I think thats what happened.

The top 3 placegetter were all much more seasoned than Sound Action and had what you would call conventional preparations for such a race.

So I don't necessarily think it was the distance that beat her, I think it was her preparation and attempting to do a bit too much first time in.

Now that they know the ability she has things will be a bit different next time. With a good spell and carefully planned preparation culminating is something big like the VRC Oaks in the Spring i'm sure she will be much better equipped to show her best.

[topsy99]

not really imagele.
i was tempted to be facetious. i know we have been bagging jockeys on this forum lately and i have disagreed with some of the comments of late. e.g. the rides on northerly i thought were not all that bad.
but at the risk of being unfair which i accept it could be but i had a flashback of a couple of horses named old nick and jack daniels.
sandgroper will know what i mean and it could be unfair of me.
on this forum i have mentioned a chemist friend of mine who walked into my shop and saw my teletext on and there was an odds on favorite showing. he looked at the jockeys name and said no way would i put anything on an odds on favourite with an inexperienced jockey. the horse ran unplaced.
group ones for group ones is an old saying.

[Imagele]

Osulldj
Won't she be a shade old for the oaks in the spring?

[osulldj]

ah yes Imagele, you are right of course...silly me :sad:

It will be interesting to see which race(s) they do decide to target with her. Stepping into open company she will need to improve somwhere around 3-4 lengths by my speed/pace ratings to be competitive at top group level.

[Imagele]

I think the trainer has already indicated that the Caulfield Cup will be the target.
I tend to agree with "topsy". She might improve 2L. by changing the jockey.
I await the spring with interest.
Over and out.
:smile: