Too bad to be true unfortunately. This edition of the Avondale Guineas was the slowest edition since the race’s existence back in 1971. The race was run 7 seconds slower than last year, which equates to roughly 42 lengths. This gives context to the race visually, where it looks like a number of horses that settled worse than midfield struggled to make ground on the opposition. Despite this, Willydoit ran the 2nd quickest last 800, 600, 400 and 200 of the race. Only Oceana Dream (the horse that finished 3rd), ran quicker sectionals.

Jockey Masa Hashizume, was restraining Willydoit for the majority of the run, meaning that it was hard for him to relax, which is paramount for staying races. Due to the restraining, his stride length was marginally shorter than his average in previous runs. For a horse of Willy’s size, you want him to be stretching his legs and bowling along to see his best, but unfortunately, we just couldn’t see that on Saturday. It shows that Willydoit still had a lot to give and definitely saw out the 2100m. He’s pulled up incredibly well and now he is all set to gear up for the Grand Final: The NZ Derby. Bring it on!