THE STABLE CHALLENGE
 

Okay, a new idea for us here. The idea of this comp is to pick a 'stable' of horses to follow over the next couple of months. The challenge will go from Apr 9 to June 13. The idea is to try to pick horses you think will be able to win races on metropolitan tracks on Saturdays and Public Holidays over that period.

RULES

Closing time for posting your stable is Midnight Friday Apr8. You need to pick 12 horses for your stable, 6 'Group A' horses and 6 'Group B' horses.

During the period of the comp, you'll be having hypothetical bets on all of your stable horses whenever they start at one of our nominated meetings. You'll bet either $20 Win or $10 EW on all Group A horses and you'll have either $10 Win or $5 EW on all Group B horses. You decide on the day of the race if you want to back them Win or EW.

On May 8 a 'trading period' will begin where you can replace up to 3 of your stable horses with new selections for the rest of the comp. Closing time for this is Midnight Fri May 13. During this time, you are also allowed to swap your A & B horses around if you wish, as long as you continue to have 6 of each.

It is up to you to post all your stable runners on here when they are down to race. Probably a good idea to use something like the 'Racenet Blackbook' so you don't miss any of the selections. http://www.racenet.com.au/blackbook.asp

There are 14 racedays and 67 meetings we will be able to use for the competition. If one of our horses wins a race at another meeting during the competition period, it's just bad luck.

Here are the meetings we'll be betting on:
Sat Apr 9 (Doom, W.Frm, Caul, Morp, Belm)
Sat Apr 16 (E.Frm, Rose, Flem, Chel, Belm)
Sat Apr 23 (Doom, Rand, Caul, Chel, Belm)
Mon Apr 25 (E.Frm, Rand, Flem, V.Pk, Belm)
Sat Apr 30 (Doom, Rose, Sand, Morp, Belm)
Mon May 2 (Doom, Cant)
Sat May 7 (E.Frm, Rose, Flem, Morp, Belm)
Sat May 14 (G.Cst, Rand, Sand, Morp, Belm)
Mon May 16 (Ipsw, Cant, Flem, Morp, Belm)
Sat May 21 (Doom, Rose, M.Val, Chel, Belm)
Sat May 28 (Doom, Rose, Flem, Chel, Belm)
Sat June 4 (E.Frm, Rose, Sand, Chel, Belm)
Sat June 11 (E.Frm, Rand, Flem, Morp, Belm)
Mon June 13 (E.Frm, W.Frm, M.Val, Morp, Belm)

Obviously, the one whose stable has made the most money after June 13 will be the champ. Good luck with it. :)

good stuff mate....thats what i am doing right now so think i will be in this....a little different from what i am doing but still will give it ago

Yea I would be in this for sure looks real interesting

i'm in

I'm a starter for this Sportz.

A few days to go. I hope we will have more than just 5 of us in the comp.

Is anyone ready to post their stables yet? I still have a few spots to sort out with mine.

I'm happy to participate, no good having only a paltry amount in. But how are we supposed to pick out horses that are to run 6 weeks in advance? Especially in the dreaded winter months, I'm not realy going to have an idea of who will be running..

So you can pick any horse/s. Doesn't matter what class they may be racing in?

Well, that's the trick Mecurial. It's not meant to be easy.

Read all the recent articles in the papers or on the racing websites like Racenet or AAP RacingAndSports. They will often tell you which horses are being targetted for which races in the next couple of months. Also try to catch up with the racing news on your local racing station if you can.

Alternatively, go through the races from the last couple of Saturdays and look for horses which have had just 1-3 runs back from a spell and have been impressive or unlucky. Look for the horses that just seem to be building up to a win in the near future.

I've also given you a headstart by allowing you to wait until Friday night to post your stable of horses. That means you can look at the form guide and pick some horses you think will win this Saturday. It also means you should be able to pick out a few horses which are perhaps resuming from a spell or maybe have had 1 or 2 runs back and therefore will be aimed at big races over the next couple of months.

Hope all that helps.

Yes. As long as they will be running at metropolitan meetings on Saturdays and public holidays. Won't be much good if they run in a midweek maiden at Gosford or Bendigo or something.

Any chance of a 2nd 'trading period' Sportz? :)

same thought crossed my mind....any chance Sportz?

Paddy, you're lucky I'm so nice. :D

Okay, here's what we'll do. We'll divide the comp into 3 parts instead of 2. During both of the trading periods, you'll be able to drop 3 of your 12 horses and change your A & B horses around. By the way, I dropped the Canterbury meeting on May 2 as it's only a public holiday in Qld and the Sydney meeting will probably be just like a midweeker.

Entries in by Midnight Fri April 8

First part of the comp
Sat Apr 9 (Doom, W.Frm, Caul, Morp, Belm)
Sat Apr 16 (E.Frm, Rose, Flem, Chel, Belm)
Sat Apr 23 (Doom, Rand, Caul, Chel, Belm)
Mon Apr 25 (E.Frm, Rand, Flem, V.Pk, Belm)

1st trading period - Tue Apr 26 to Midnight Fri Apr 29

Second part of the comp
Sat Apr 30 (Doom, Rose, Sand, Morp, Belm)
Mon May 2 (Doom)
Sat May 7 (E.Frm, Rose, Flem, Morp, Belm)
Sat May 14 (G.Cst, Rand, Sand, Morp, Belm)
Mon May 16 (Ipsw, Cant, Flem, Morp, Belm)

2nd trading period - Tue May 17 to midnight Fri May 20

Third part of the comp
Sat May 21 (Doom, Rose, M.Val, Chel, Belm)
Sat May 28 (Doom, Rose, Flem, Chel, Belm)
Sat June 4 (E.Frm, Rose, Sand, Chel, Belm)
Sat June 11 (E.Frm, Rand, Flem, Morp, Belm)
Mon June 13 (E.Frm, W.Frm, M.Val, Morp, Belm)

Hope that's more to your liking. :)

I'm in for this one.

Something a little different
Pencil me in

i had fun last week choosing would-be runners for this comp!!! Does anyone know of a racing schedule for the next couple of weeks?

You should be able to get some info out of this:

QLD Winter Carnival highlights:
https://www.queenslandracing.com.au...rnivalDates.asp

QLD Race dates & programs:
https://www.queenslandracing.com.au...ates/search.asp

NSW Racing Calender:
http://210.9.78.177/racing.asp

VIC Racing Calender:
http://www.racingvictoria.com.au/ra...ay/programs.php

SA Race dates, programs and Feature races:
http://www.trsa.com.au/racing/fixtures.html

WA Racing Calender:
http://www.waturf.org.au/html/racing/calendar.html

Sounds like an interesting comp. Sportz you need a medal for running these things. I won't be competing but will be watching with interest.

I don't know if it would be giving a leg up to anyone, but I would be slipping Shamehka and Afraah in. Gai has already indicated these two will bat on for the other carnivals, and Gai does'nt mind running her horses into the ground to pick up prizemoney.

Best of Luck to everyone.

Well, I had Afraah picked out and was thinking about Shamekha.

i won't be including Shamekha...i already made my money there @24 the win

And I thought I did well at just over $5 on Saturday.

i actually thought that Magnetism looked the better horse on Saturday (Despite Losing). Its just whether the trainer keeps him going. I'm not going to concentrate on the big races...a few shock picks ;)

Count me in, great work Sportz!

Yeh I am throwing in a few randoms.
I was hoping to see my namesake race but he has been on like some neverending spell.

Here's mine,

Candy Vale
Crying Storm
Bruges
Gold Wells
Spanish Symbol
Gallic
Brilliant Jewel
Algorythym
Headland
Sassbee
Star Shiraz
Sonic Royale

Is this what were supposed to do?

Now all you need to do is group them Mr ed.


As per Sportz original post

You need to pick 12 horses for your stable, 6 'Group A' horses and 6 'Group B' horses.

During the period of the comp, you'll be having hypothetical bets on all of your stable horses whenever they start at one of our nominated meetings. You'll bet either $20 Win or $10 EW on all Group A horses and you'll have either $10 Win or $5 EW on all Group B horses. You decide on the day of the race if you want to back them Win or EW.

Yeah, Mr Ed. The 6 horses that you're keenest on go into "Group A" and you bet twice as much on these horses as you do on the "Group B" horses.

Remember that the first section of the comp finishes on Apr25 and after that you'll have a chance to change them around and switch some Group B horses to Group A and vice versa.

Cheers El Gordo

Group A

Candy Vale
Gallic
Algorythym
Headland
Sassbee
Brilliant Jewel

Group B

Spanish Symbol
Sonic Royale
Crying Storm
Star Shiraz
Bruges
Gold Wells

Thanks Mr Ed for being game enough to put your head on the chopping block first. :)

Thanks sportz, looks like a fun comp. So i've kept the ones just staring their preps and looking for further etc down the bottom and lift them up later when they are in more suitable races. Is that supposed to be the idea?

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Starcrafts Stable
 

Group A

Dizelle
Picardi Run
Raid The Royals
Danni Martine
Tui Song
Video Hits

Group B

Danger Looms
Astrodame
Alinghi
Irish Crusader
Lad of the Manor
Padfoot Charlie

May you all kick donkeys!

I'm not going to tell anybody what they should be putting in their stable but just remember that it's horses that will be running in Aust metro meetings over the next 2 months.

Well?
 

Why? Did I do something wrong?

Starcraft, alot of great horses there, but really horses like Alinghi, Dizzelle, Lad of The Manor, Danni Martine, Tui Song and Danger Looms have all finished their autumn canivals and will be spelled until the spring so you wont get any races from them in this comp. Better off backing horses at start, middle of their preps who race quite often such as, Zariban and Proudly Aggro who i know are two of your favorites.

Yep.

Starcraft, not all but most of the horses that raced over the last few weeks in the big Group 1 races in Sydney will be going out for a spell. You would be better looking at horses that have just come back and had 1 or 2 starts. It also would be good to include a few horses that race in Brisbane or Adelaide because that's where the big races will be during the comp.

I've given you a head start by allowing you up until midnight this Friday to pick your stable. That way you can look at this Saturday's races. Should be able to pick a few nice horses out of that. :)

Starcraft's New Improved Stable
 

Group A

Picardi Run
Raid The Royals
Video Hits
Astrodame
Irish Crusader
Padfoot Charlie

Group B

Show Biz Kid
Binding
Charnwood Green
Dante's Paradiso
El Suroso
Ike's Dream
Mahtoum
Navy Blue

Anyone have any problems with Group B being spelled or whatever?

Unless I've missed a more recent post you've got 8 starters in group B Starcraft, & we're suppose to have 6 in each group ;)

Funny that ? you got the spread right the first time :)

Yeah. A total of 12 horses please, 6 in each group.