Once again the Awapuni track presented was a disgrace and cannot take much rain anymore before it collapses into a biased bog where the middle of the track and deeper are the only areas that pay a dividends. Awapuni has been a three-textured track for a while (the backstraight and across the top and the home straight are all different surfaces and grips for hooves) and an eyesore as a result plus bettors know it cannot be trusted anymore. However in the last year or two has been an embarrassment and is not a good look visually or bias wise plus turnover and field sizes are dropping like a stone. It simply does not race fair anymore and needs a lot of money spent on it but that is not going to happen with the massive debt by RaceInc has (the clubs that race at Awapuni, Trentham and Otaki) of many millions. The G3 filly feature turned out to be a fizzer with the race delayed by over 10 minutes when a late scratching was caught in the gates and some runners were unfairly standing idle for way too long. Bettors will not put their money on a thoroughbred made to stand idle for that long and then be expected to begin cleanly after cooling down almost. Slow gates opening is bad enough but cooled down gallopers missing away too is a double-dollop of turnover trouble and you cannot blame people putting their money elsewhere in a more professional arena. The winner today was Choice, the proven mudder in the field, after she began ordinarily and was back in the rear group early. She picked a path between runners to midfield and then got out near the home turn and angled the second widest runner turning in. Her swim finish was irresistible and took her too second at the 200m and leading the final 100m. Attention Seeker raced near the lead throughout and fought well after being steered centre track the run home to finish second. Palace Rock ran well for third and has just come out of an easy maiden win plus she was hampered halfway up the homestraight. She showed the mile was gettable and that wet ground was not a game changer for her plus now has a G3 placing on the resume. Outspoken did well as her rider cut the corner to save ground and went from midfield into third only to be anchored late in the slow lanes and finish fourth. Bohemian Lily was wide throughout and battled on okay all things considered and while distant at the line she was entitled to finish further back. Mia’s Choice was a tactical blunder by her trainer and/or rider as the filly weakened the run home and would have been better being ridden quieter or cold. Once up to the mile like today she would have been better with cover and let unleash as she did prior when coming with a huge surge. Ironically that effort two starts ago she was a close second to Attention Seeker, the runner up today, but here with that runner near then alongside her she weakened to sixth beaten seven lengths. You only hope a jockey manager did not come up with such disastrous tactics and can see why Hong Kong ban them as a scourge on turnover and wagering trust. Sharp Choice for a maiden was okay and will win against her own grade when her stable realize they need a maiden kill before tackling the stakes races as getting in them will prove more and more difficult from this point on until they do. Otherwise the race was a shambles for many reasons and the form is wet track stuff so should be irrelevant over summer if dry tracks appear again. Choice now on slow or heavy ground has had four starts for two wins and two seconds. The winning time of 1:38.60 for G3 says it all as a standard maiden (that is an average non-race winner) should be able to clock 1:36 on decent footing or sixteen lengths superior too this. That is how bad Awapuni looked and raced today.