This will be remembered more for Mosse somehow not given a start in the race than anything else as it defied common sense being an unbeaten in five starts sprinter that had scored at G3 in his last outing. Most of the field here had not won at G3 and likely never will so how an unbeaten sprinter could be omitted warranted an independent inquiry especially when the year before a sprinter that had won the same lead up event (Concorde Handicap) was in the field at 57kg and carried saddlecloth number two. The same horse Durham Town ran this year and had 57kg again so it was Monty Pythonesque the more you look at how bad decisions were made. Mosse was a warm favourite for the race several weeks prior at fixed odds so it was and still is a an absolute PR disaster for New Zealand Racing, the TAB and the Auckland Racing Club. Bettors dislike having their money on a chance not let into the race when unbeaten and thoroughly deserving a spot. It was a case of ‘how to lose customers for good 101’ and adds to a rapidly growing list sadly in recent years by some disastrous decisions. The Railway Handicap was not that long ago the premier sprint in New Zealand and had credibility built up over decades but now it is not anywhere near a G1 and in fact is a G2 at best and perhaps even a G3 masquerading as a premier sprint. Most of the winners this century have shown the race deserves a downgrade as now it is a set weights and penalties farce that is purely now a lead into the G1 Telegraph at Trentham just under three weeks later. The G1 Telegraph is an Open Handicap (what the Railway Handicap was for decades until some bright sparks of recent years decided to try and fix something that was not broken) It is no coincidence the Wellington Cup is now a paltry G2 and back from 3200m to 2400m and it acts embarrassingly as a lead up to the G1 Auckland Cup over 3200m for pure tit for tat race club reasons. They can all go back to normal but it then takes someone to admit rank failure and meddling with a proven formula so the odds of that happening are slim and none and slim has already left the building with Elvis and a teddy bear. After the win this year by the best handicapped runner you will ever see in Fleur De Lune that makes it seven mares to win the race this century and five of the last nine runnings to be even more focused. Recent years results have seen total blowouts and some winners have never scored again as they were not G1 sprinters to start with but fluked a soft sprint run under set weights and penalties. Two of the last five winners have paid the biggest prices ever recorded in the race and it simply is not a G1 sprint anymore and a gift for females now it seems. The field this year had the topweight Durham Town (which was not competitive in Queensland over winter against G3 and Listed opposition four times). Remember this sprinter won five of his first seven starts and the Concorde Handicap before he made the Railway field in 2012 as number two saddlecloth at 57kg. The Concorde was G2 then and was downgraded to G3 this year but that looks a possible mistake on the form out of the 2012 version standing up since. Mosse was five-from five including the G3 Concorde at his last start and could not make a substandard field that was not even G1 and Durham Town had 57kg again. The Railway is now just a sprint race and the first nine home were separated by three lengths or less, so hard to make a case for many of them as being real G1 standard sprinters. Fleur De Lune had placed five times at G1 but got 54kg so was thrown into the race but New Zealand racing has lent heavily towards favouring fillies and mares for many seasons now. Most of the rest of the field had stakes form either against their own age group (3yo form is never a guide for open class events) or sex (fillies and mares form is strong in New Zealand but at G1 against all comers you still need to be wary unless thrown in at weights). Fleur De Lune last autumn had G1 placed in the Easter Handicap over a mile, which is an open handicap versus all comers. The winner was Veyron and that strong male is now a five-time G1 winner but the Easter Handicap then was his fourth at the top shelf level. This is the strongest G1 formline along with Mufhasa to rate New Zealand sprinter and miler form so the set weights and penalties must go as it ruins the Railway by skewing real form. Farcically we see Fleur De Lune had 54.5kg in that race yet in the G1 Railway of 2013, a distance she has finished first twice and placed twice in as many outings including a G3 win at WFA versus all comers, the mare gets 54kg. No surprise she won by over a length and it saw her rider Jason Jago record his first G1 win in New Zealand. Jago currently sits 55th in the riding premiership at the time of writing with seven wins from eighty-five mounts or a one-in-twelve strike rate. He is a South African rider and it comes after Rogan Norvall won the last G1 race held in New Zealand (the Zabeel Classic) and he is a Zimbabwean rider. Jetset Lad ran on strongly for second while Durham Town boxed on the closing stages bravely to just get third from Demophon. Mosse in his G3 Concorde win defeated Demophon and Durham Town and both gave him 5.5kg. Other winners to come out of the 2012 Concorde so far include Rough Odds (defeated Mosse since at a biased Tauranga track into second but the young horse went a bionic last 600m and still got beaten at what was his first 1400m try plus he gave the winner 1kg) and Mae Jinx (won a Listed handicap). Placegetters include Cool Storm and Trapiche since but the promise of more to come is self evident as the Mosse win has been badly underestimated and flawed the opinion of some since leading to handicapping chaos. The disappointment of the race was Burgundy that led up and was run down into fifth as although beaten less than two lengths he will not strike a weaker G1 than this and is trying to get his stallion career locked in. The G1 Telegraph is more like a 1400m event even if over 1200m and that could suit him better but leading is not really his best attribute because pouncing is what he does best the closing stages. Forgive Ginner Hart as he was no chance when settling back of the midfield and five-wide plus he is a left-hander so mark it as a slaughter and maybe get on in the Telegraph at overs. Two mares caught the eye in Kitt Ann Miss, the least qualifield runner that only got in through an exemption race placing, and the tidy backrunner Fazzle. Kitt Ann Miss with 53kg ran on solidly from second last on settling and bumped some out of the way turning for home when getting to third widest abruptly before unleashing. Fazzle from last under 55.5kg (how she had to give winner Fleur De Lune 1.5kg is mind-bogglingly stupid and reason itself to scrap the idiotic set weights and penalties as a once placed G1 mare had to give a five-time G1 placed mare 1.5kg) was carted the widest runner turning for home and her final 100m was eyecatching. The time of 1:09.21 is nothing special as some uber-quick times have been run in the Railway but more so when it was a a serious open handicap. Diamond Lover ran the still held track record time of 1:07.73 (about nine lengths faster than Fleur De Lune) when winning the Railway as a 4yo mare in 1987 for Cambridge Stud. The sire of the 2013 winner Fleur De Lune is Stravinsky, which stands at Cambridge Stud. All in all a gift for the best credentialed runner in the field Fleur De Lune and being only weighted at 54kg is still hard to believe and made the race and conditions a mockery. It cannot go back to a normal Open Handicap sprint fast enough to save itself plus the credibility it once had and richly deserved but that will require the current crop of mechanics (they fix stuff that is not broken and make it worse), who would burn a salad, to move into another employment area and break out their tool sets there.