This G2 Open Handicap over 2400m saw a Central Districts trained mare at her first ever clockwise run win by half a head and grab G1 Auckland Cup favouritism in three weeks time. The track was given out as a Good3 at Ellerslie and the rail out 8m but the times were poor all day and even in races that they went hard in so the re-calculated starting points look dubious or the track is behaving very badly as it had done before all the work was done on it with underfoot being concrete-like. The winners and where they turned or home in race order were second (neck back and two-off the fence), sixth (eight-wide (widest runner) and length and a half from the leader), third (six-wide and two lengths from the leader), fourth (two-off the fence and a length and a half from the leader), third (trail but angling two-off and a length behind the leader), third (eight-wide and half a length from the leader), fifth (nine-wide (widest runner) and a length from the leader and led (neck in front and two-off the fence). On a supposed Good3 track it defies credulity when all riders are angling away from the inside lanes before the home turn and the clear faster lanes are up the middle or deeper as that looks ridiculous on a dry track. In slow run races and pressure up front races the winners are still coming centre track and deeper like it was a bog bottomless track and that is visually alarming as this does not happen for no reason. Glory Days, a 6yo mare looked remarkably well weighted at 52.5kg (half a kilo above the minimum) considering before today she had won eight races from just twenty-two starts including an easy Listed win with 55kg. She sat back either second last or last and then swept up deep near the home turn to stride into fifth and was the widest runner (nine-wide) turning in then sustained the run to lead at the 300m. One rival went with her at the 150m and the pair had a ding-donger before Glory Days prevailed very narrowly in 2:29.89, which is not a very good time but the track hardness issue can be factored in. It was her ninth win and first G2 success plus the mare has won six races this season and to show the lack of stamina depth currently in New Zealand is now the G1 Auckland Cup favourite. She was a three win wet tracker in the main last season so the rise has been steep but she will only have 1kg more for the two-mile feature on March 9. Glory Days could also give her rider today Samantha Collett, the premiership winner last season, her first ever G1 winner and that is a staggering fact in itself it has taken this long. Blue Breeze at $57 almost caused a boilover with the outsider in the field racing midfield the outer then losing his spot to be tenth the outer. The 5yo gelding that is just a three-winner came up wide turning for home and surged to be second at the 250m then got closer at the 150m and was in a real slugfest the final 50m. Blue Breeze last won a race in April of 2018 on a heavy bog track right here at Ellerslie and today just missed scoring in a G2 event on very hard footing. Five To Midnight ran his usual honest race for third under the equal topweight of 59kg after racing midfield then outer then moving up wide quickly near the home turn to be fourth turning in. He reached third at the 250m but then hit that flat spot and felt his weight too (he gave the winner 6.5kg and the runner up 7kg) and was almost four and a half lengths away at the line. The 6yo gelding drops to 56kg for the G1 Auckland Cup (3200m) in three weeks time so will meet Glory Days 4kg better off and that is telling plus he ran second in this race last year beaten a nasal hair. Five To Midnight had 56kg last year but carried half a kilo overweight and how costly that proved to be going down the narrowest of margins, so don't expect a repeat of that farcical decision in a G1 race. Roger That, a known swimmer, finished fourth after racing third mostly and then was sixth turning for home but found the line okay albeit distantly. Up until his last two starts he had never raced on Good footing and has in those runs finished fourth each time with one coming at G3 and today at G2. Jacksstar was running on okay after being back then seventh wide with cover only to hit a flat spot and be second last turning for home. He grabbed the bit again and found the line. The 7yo has won at 3200m and was third in the 2017 G1 Auckland Cup and third in the G3 Wellington Cup though the form has not stood up at all in those races since. Gundown ran on oaky from back and wide and being ridden cold helped his case for sure. Mongolian Marshall his stablemate that started favourite ran a weak seventh after having every chance fourth or fifth the outer and it was a season so far worst performance. In seven runs prior to today he had won three and finished runner up three times and third once. His rider Matthew Cameron had ridden the stablemate favourite Cutadeel in the G2 3yo that flopped big time in the race prior to this and now Mongolian Marshall runs a shocker too. The leading stable of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman are rarely out of the top three in Blacktype races but today had three runners in the G2 Guineas with the longshot of their trio finishing fourth the best of them and in this G2 2400m had two runners for a sixth and seventh. It was a tough day at the office for the stable not paying a dividend with any of their runners. Final Suggestion led then was a distant second chasing a tearaway leader and weakened while the up and coming The Good Fight settled well back and never got into the race with the hard ground unhelpful. Nymph Monte was wide then took total control of its rider almost and went clear in the lead but stopped unsurprisingly after going that keen. The rest came home beaten over a dozen lengths and up to almost twenty five lengths and some were near walking over the line looking rather ginger and proppy. The fact that Glory Days ran second favourite said a lot about the colossal lack of depth in the staying ranks at the moment in New Zealand racing. The Good Fight is a promising 4yo stayer but he has won two races and started third favourite and that says a lot too about this G2 race. The shocking performances of Chance To Dance and Andoyas showed that age and a track presented like today made them both look like they were running on hot coals and did not want to be there one iota. The field for the G1 Auckland Cup on the basis of this race will be a weak line up of mostly out of form so-called stayers once again bar one or two and some real lesser lights way below Open Class could well get a start with the drop out factor. Charles Road should end up favourite for the race clearly and 7yo raider from Australia in Venger Masque looks the other serious player. The G1 status for this race will not continue after an inexplicable exemption for several years was given in the faux hope of raising the stamina depth in New Zealand but the opposite has in fact happened, as the fields keep getting more inferior each year now too so should not be afforded the top shelf anymore. It cannot be justified and may have to go back to G2 or more likely G3 status like the NZ Cup and Wellington Cup, as they all seem to now have the same type of runner involved.