Sensationally after Race Five the trainer/connections of the outsider but one in this field Weismuller reported to stewards they were going to lead at all costs from the outside stall and put the foot down. This happened and changed the way the race was run and won plus clearly spoiled the chances of Puccini that had a lot of bettors money on and was even money at fixed odds. New Zealand racing may have opened up Pandora’s Box here as that sort of information (when reported) is of no help on the day to bettors that in the days before were backing pre-post. It also can alter a race greatly on the day too depending on just how rampant manmade track bias may be in play for the meeting due to rail movements leading up to and for the meeting that day sometimes. Weismuller did not just come over and lead he put a big break on the field and left Puccini second in a gap and chasing or towing the rest of the field up on what was a windy day at times. The run along near rank outsider was only caught turning for home and the horse named after the early Tarzan only saw his swinging vine snap the final 150m when puncturing. Female gallopers dominate New Zealand racing at every level and but for a reject 8yo from Hong Kong (Pure Champion) they would have won the Triple Crown here at Hastings (I Do first two legs and Costume today) Costume was the third outsider in the field today and in her two runs this campaign had beaten one rival home then two rivals home so was hopelessly out of form. She had been served after the last start flop such was the confidence in her form and future racing career. The race was won for the mare not by her rider Michael Coleman but due to a massive blunder by Matthew Cameron atop Abidewithme. Costume was fourth last the inner but across the top Cameron for some inexplicable reason worked one off on Abidewithme (ahead) and the moment he did a wily Coleman grinned like had just holed an eagle on a par five. Coleman went from eleventh to sixth without spending a penny extra turning for home. The mare was in a driving finish with three others the final 100m and noses separated the foursome at the line. Shuka looked the winner at the 200m when unleashing but as he can be in a tight finish does look for a way to turn it up. This is the second time he has been beaten a lip in a G1 and amazingly it is his now nemesis Costume that has beaten him each time. Soriano stayed the inside throughout and never went around a runner and hit the lead at the 200m (perhaps too soon but when dream gaps keep opening up you take them). She was beaten two noses and is a stablemate of the winner. Fourth home and three noses away was another mare (they ran one, three and four) in Zonza that had a nice sit the inner but her rider came off turning for home and presented the third finisher with a saloon passage to lead at the 200m. Zonza may have won if the jockey elected to stay in and wait for those ahead to drift out but he played the percentages and lost. Abidewithme has been ridden so poorly by more than one rider that her record should be so much better (solid enough anyway) it is not funny. Jockeys seem to gamble with this mare taking a specific run when all the track bias facts say do not do that. The mare would have won easily if she had stayed the inside and got the dream run and breaks that Costume did. Cameron instead lost his place and got held up to be turning for home behind the winner by a couple of lengths at least when over a length ahead of it across the top. She ran on gamely once drawn centre track and clear air at the 200m but the damage had been done. Blunders lose G1 races and luck wins G1 races such is the scales of equine racing for balance! Nashville and O’Fille ran on late with both getting too far back and the tactics on the former backfired horribly too. Puccini got unmasked today and exposed as being vulnerable when made to work so his campaign to tackle either the Caulfield Cup or Cox Plate must now be in jeopardy. He had a health issue after the race reported by his yard but where do they go next? He was totally undone by Weismuller and better horses will do something similar from now on as they see a serious chink in the armour plus he has never fired in Australia yet. Sacred Star has been disappointing this time in and makes his Queensland form appear more dubious by the outing. Addictive Habit is a wet tracker like all Lee Somervell trained runners. Thorn Prince was outclassed at G1 under WFA and needs more cut in the ground. Zennista was poor and again her Queensland form is looking dodgy now too. Pure Champion gets the award for slaughter ride of the race being sent forward and left wide and working throughout fourth, fifth or sixth. Why the rider did not keep pressing to get one-off starting the run down the backstraight is a mystery but this 8yo reject from Hong Kong beat one home and will sleep well. He won the middle leg of the G1 Triple Crown at Hastings so the form is not serious surely over the whole three legs. Ransomed won this last year in an upset and was last home today so it makes the case the form from this race and the whole Triple Crown at Hastings is way inferior to local ratings numbers. This horse was embarrassed in a weak G2 race in Melbourne last spring. The winner of this Costume was fourth against her own sex only at G1 in New Zealand behind Viadana and that mare has been shown up twice this spring in Melbourne. This was a G3 race at best outside New Zealand and possibly lower plus the way a despised outsider could get so many off the bit and gasping to the home turn does not augur well. Costume has had six runs at G1 for two wins now, a second, a fourth and a second last and third last. The other win as mentioned earlier came by a nose over Shuka at Te Rapa while the fourth came behind Viadana and Recite (latter demolished and ran last in the first leg of this G1 Triple Crown). The third last came in the second leg of the Triple Crown this year behind the 8yo reject from Hong Kong in Pure Champion. The second last came in a race won by Silent Achiever (the highest rated horse running in New Zealand at the moment) and she is struggling in Melbourne at the moment with no placings in three runs so far this spring. Facts do not lie when presented like for like and link for link so until the higher powers that be accept this in New Zealand racing and look to get more realism into the G1 standard then internationally the bell will soon toll or should have by now.