The 2013 third leg of the Hawkes Bay Triple Crown was a severely lacking in depth G1 event with a very substandard and not even full field assembled. The G1 event under WFA was won by a handicapper Ransomed narrowly over the only two G1 winners in the field prior namely Nashville and Survived. A serious race pattern committee would look to hand out a warning next year if this race continues to drop down into irrelevance and results and field strength cannot be repeated like today again. Many of the field this year are nowhere near Open Class let alone G1 at WFA and many had not won for ages and were out of form hopelessly. This race has become a credibility problem. The winning time of 2:04.21 recorded by the rugged nose winner Ransomed, in what is the seventeenth running of this race as a G1 event, ranks the thirteenth best time so nothing to crow about there. The fastest time belongs to Cent Home of 2:02.16 or just over twelve lengths superior to the Ransomed time today. Ransomed is big six-year-old gelding and purely a handicap stayer as his record shows and today he won his eighth race in start number thirty-five. In the middle leg of the Triple Crown here over a mile at G1 under WFA he finished last of twelve so this was a massive turnaround and certainly puts stamina doubts on many he beat home. The only other time he contested a G1 event was the 2013 Auckland Cup (3200m) when carrying 56kg into eighth behind Sangster (54.5kg), who does not scare any rival in Australia at G1 under WFA as he too is a handicapper only outside New Zealand. It was the first G1 win for trainer Gary Vile and rider Jonathan Parkes so the celebrations were of a double delight. At the 100m we saw a one-batting Ransomed sure to finish a rugged third but either side of him were Nashville (outer) and Survived (inner) and they more wilted a tad rather than he buried them. Nashville may have been cost the race by a gear change error of his trainers Adrian and Harry Bull, who removed the blinkers and ended up with a last start G1 mile placegetter under WFA unable to keep up at 2040m. Even when last near the home turn the known closing power of Nashville looked sure to win the day as he unleashed down the outer. A certainty to win at the 50m he somehow lost it by a nasal hair and the jury is still out on him as a middle distance force. Survived should have won the race by a couple of lengths at least but the jockey Hayden Tinsley rode one of the worst races you will see worldwide as a clear cut favourite at G1. Whether it was arrogance or over-confidence, with the trainer John Bary perhaps contributing to Tinsley feeling he was on a bulletproof mount pre-race to any microphone and camera he could find, it is hard to totally pinpoint/blame. The fact however is Bary had his horse ready to win and Tinsley sat wide the whole way fifth and sixth arrogantly and/or embarrassingly, and then in a moment of sheer further brain explosion attacked for the lead near the home turn. Tinsley did not just gas his mount but emptied the tank twice in the running (sat wide and then moved earlier than needed) and to be beaten the last 50m into third and go down a nose and a short neck is just cruel. “Looking forward” to the Christmas Card exchange between Bary and Tinsley this year! Hayden Tinsley at least is in the Hall Of Fame now for deadest G1 howlers or snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Soriano ran on well down the outer late for fourth after a rocky run early and getting back. Postman’s Daughter after leaping in the air at the start got further back than her rider intended plus also copped a rocky run early. She then saved ground at all times and was into second at the 200m before wilting a tad so the G1 still eludes this durable mare that was having her forty-fourth start today. Zennista had every chance and needed more cut in the ground while Thrive was okay and Pimms Time had excuses so all those mares can feature when back against their own sex. A more telling fact about how much lack of depth this field had was Back In Black finishing ninth and beaten just over four and a half lengths. He was having his seventy-fifth start today and has not won a race in eighteen outings (over a year) and the last time he placed was twelve runs ago. The last two runners home were outclassed in Storming The Tower (4 wins) and Deane Martin (3 wins) with neither likely to get a start if the field was fair dinkum. They will however both be serious wagers back into their proper grades. All in all a disappointing field and not a genuine G1 race by a very long way. This race is under pressure as the good early New Zealand spring performers head to Melbourne or Sydney for the big money after contesting the first leg of the Triple Crown at 1400m, which is now the only creditable G1 race of the Hastings trio now. Real G1 depth at WFA does not exist anymore in New Zealand for the latter part of spring and maybe the final two legs of the Hawke’s Bay Triple Crown should be demoted to G2 status. The first leg of the Triple Crown should be the biggest stake by far and marketed as the most sought after G1 at WFA because 1400m suits every real deal galloper early spring.