This G1 2000m at WFA was won very easily by the Australian bred 4yo mare Danzdanzdance to give her back-to-back success at this level in the month of December. The track at Ellerslie today was presented as a Heavy10 and for Summer time that is rare to get that bad considering the track had been closed for many months and a surfeit of lateral drains put in. It was also was an incredibly holding and biased surface that drained (no pun intended) the life out of many legs on the day and played havoc all with results and margins of defeat and this race was no exception. The winners and where they turned for home in race order were fifth (four-off the inside and a length and a half from the leader), third (three-off the inside and a length and a half from the leader), seventh (nine-off the inside and three lengths from the leader), eighth (three-off the inside and three lengths from the leader), fifth (three-off the inside and two lengths from the leader), tenth (five-off the inside and five lengths from the leader), fourth (six-off the inside and a length from the leader), led (four-off the inside and two lengths clear), second (ten-off the inside and one length from the leader) and led (eight-off the inside and neck in front). Danzdanzdance settled down last in the seven-horse field and never moved widest until the 600m with the mare striding up second and threatening turning for home deepest out. She took over at the 200m and went clear at the 100m reveling in the wet ground to score by three and a half lengths in 2:08.17 for her fourth win in eleven starts. The mare has won at 1400m (twice) and 1600m and now 2000m but is yet to score on good footing and in fact in four runs on that surface has placed just once though it came when third in the G1 NZ Derby (2400m). Lizzie L'Amour raced fifth on her own then moved up wide at the 600m and took the lead turning for home with one threat too her left and once headed at the 200m she was a distant second at the 100m. Jon Snow raced fourth the outer and was flat and fifth turning for home then ground his way into a distant third at the 200m. He ended up eight and a half lengths from the winner and has since been retired. Authentic Paddy raced second then was third wide across the top to the home turn and fourth at the 200m ending up almost nine lengths from the winner at the line. The handicapper Meeska Mooska raced third and was fourth turning for home then stopped to finish fifth beaten almost a dozen lengths. Saint Emilion set the pace but once headed near the home turn, dropped out badly to finish sixth beaten over fifteen lengths. Nicoletta raced second last and then dropped out last on her own at the 600m and walked home beaten almost forty-four lengths. There were some very tired horses in the gluggy ground and when in a seven-horse field the margin from first to last is so enormous you know the footing is the culprit. Danzdanzdance is beating mediocre WFA depth in New Zealand so until she is tried again in Australia her amount of improvement will not be known. She was third to Savvy Coup and Lizzie L'Amour in the Spring at G1 over 2040m under WFA and the former was beaten badly twice in Melbourne last Spring. Lizzie L'Amour ran second to Danzadanzdance today, so the formlines are still relevant and when you consider she never paid a dividend in four Melbourne Spring runs in 2017, the gulf in depth is substantial. Jon Snow ran a distant third today and he last won a race in Australia on a biased Moonee Valley in the Spring of 2017 otherwise he has never looked like winning in Australia in five more runs since. Danzdanzdance has found three lengths on Lizzie L'Amour and is that enough to be competitive in Sydney in the Autumn bearing in mind Winx is still going? It is unlikely anywhere near enough as the WFA gap between New Zealand and Australia is immense at the moment and even taking out Winx from the equation there are some male 4yos that would likely take up the mantle plus throw in some imports. A handicap race may be a Danzdanzdance's best hope being just a four-win 4yo mare but two of them are G1 and if at a mile then they can sprint home just as quick as her from off the front as out the back. Lots of options but there has to be an air of caution as the form behind from today does not stack up in Australia and the form of Savvy Coup that beat her does not stack up either. The irony is Savvy Coup, now in the Chris Waller yard and stablemate of Winx, may well meet up again with Danzdanzdance in a way that only horse racing can provide for round two of the 4yo mare match up.