Once again a racetrack in New Zealand on a G1 day was nowhere near what was said by officials and parroted on Trackside so bettors have to work out track bias and conditions by themselves now it seems. The Dead4 official rating was another example of putting the best shine possible on something that was in truth a biased track and a very poorly presented one yet again. Awapuni all day produced off times of at least a second slower than normal and the inside was an anchor area from the outset and a complete no go zone after just a couple of races. This track has been in trouble for several seasons now and has three surfaces/textures almost with the backstraight then across the top and the run home all complete strangers to each other. The level of horse that ran today should not be running times of a very slow maiden at a mile (the two mile win times today were 1:36.99 and 1:37.39) or an average maiden at 1400m (a Listed Open Handicap winner today clocked 1:24.06) but such is the alarming nature of Awapuni now. The winning time today of O’Marilyn, who it should be noted was the worst ridden runner but still won, was 1:24.46 for the 1400m. The two favourites in the first two races led and got swamped into fourth because the inside lanes were slow lanes and wasting bettors money. Last year the winner Recite on a Dead4 rated track clocked 1:23.25 or seven lengths superior to O’Marilyn so do the math and you know something is askew. Bettors are getting treated with obviously suspect information and track presentation that is getting worse plus this is happening still on G1 days (the shop window of every season if you want turnover to improve). O’Marilyn in the fifteen runnings of the G1 event held this century clocked the third slowest time to confirm this track was a lot more iffy than bettors are getting told. The fastest time this century is 1:22.42 by San Luis in 2001 or a dozen lengths superior to today. The track record at Awapuni for 1400m is a blistering 1:20.41 so they used to run bionic times here but the course in recent years has become poor and cannot handle a few races plus is absurdly triple-textured. O’Marilyn is an Australian bred filly but that is not a surprise when it comes to winning G1 races in New Zealand for younger horses as the breeding is geared towards getting to run early. She is the fourth filly to win this in the last seven years. Female gallopers won six of the ten race card today and were runner up in three others so they are having field days at these premier meetings. Just to show that the sex allowance is the biggest factor in juvenile racing we find that the richest race in the world for this age, the Golden Slipper at Rosehill, is now dominated by fillies. In the 1990’s this Awapuni Sires’ Produce was a filly-fest with seven straight wins for the lasses starting with Snap in 1993 and ending with One Under in 1999. It should be noted here with the inside lanes a disgrace at Awapuni today it did mean sitting wide was not the howling ride it would be on a normal and well presented track. Therefore the overland ride atop O’Marilyn was the worst visually in the race but in hindsight was a lane of the track in this race that did not fully penalize such a poor handling. Two races later in a G2 event over 2000m the worst ridden runner in Soriano won after sitting wide throughout and this is just more proof the Awapuni track presented today was biased and troublingly not what was reported. Worse still it never got corrected to help bettors so they are not well treated in New Zealand at the moment and an overhaul of what information is given out needs to happen soon. An easy rule is if you do not know then do not say/state as galloping gospel! The dramatic collapse in local turnover these last few years shows treating your customers badly is a business 101 mistake and a rookie one really plus a licence to lose and large amounts at that too. O’Marilyn is out of a Zabeel dam so has it all ahead next season. Her stablemate and runner up Prince Mambo may well have won had he not got trapped and held up across the top for several key strides plus he was one of several that copped a crowding early. Artic Wolf ran on particularly well the final 50m but did have a soft trip throughout. Passing Shot nearly gave his trainer Stephen McKee the trifecta and that would have been some feat. He wilted the last bit to finish fourth after being in the early drag race but then got a soft sit throughout and especially compared to the winner. Cherry Vain was better than it can ever read as she fell victim to the Awapuni inside slow lanes that anchored runners all day on a supposed Dead4 rated track. Way In ran on late and she is better clockwise at this stage so a Queensland winter is always an option for New Zealand trained gallopers. Wealth Prince and Tornado Alley kept coming the run home and the latter had a horror run wide but as mentioned earlier it may not have been the usual negative as today Awapuni raced biased and a second slower on average. The two natural backrunning and well supported fillies in Platinum Balos and Silk Belt can be forgiven as both were ridden poorly tactically and the way the race was run gave them no chance either. The former from the 450m to 250k just found trouble and traffic so forgive her and wait for the still maiden next season to reappear stronger and hopefully less one-dimensional in regards her racing pattern The latter got crowded early like many and the rider only moved very deep near the home turn so it was far too late considering she had shown improving earlier in a race was within her ability range. She will come back a force in the spring like a few of the fillies in this. Overall the winner did it hard and still surged the run home so hard to make an excuse for the rest though the runner up stablemate should have beaten her. Prince Mambo but for some crowding early and finding traffic across the top would still be unbeaten left-handed.