This G1 at WFA has been a candidate for a while to lose its status such has been the suspect depth and small numbers that continue to plague it. The track at Otaki today was rated a Good3 by officials but clearly visually was not really as it chipped up throughout the day and markedly in this feature event. Its place in the calendar seems under duress and today the field size was just ten runners and half of those are not G1 standard or never have been. The 4yo winner Volkstok’n’barrell actually highlighted the lack of genuine G1 depth at this scale in New Zealand by winning it, as he has not saluted the judge since the autumn of last season as a 3yo. However that win came at G1 in Sydney so it does show that he found this lot easy beats as has not even paid a dividend this season as a 4yo. He had been racing superior depth to this by a wide margin last Spring in Melbourne and while not disgraced he was found out the longer his campaign went. In a slowly run race Volkstok’n’barrell got back and was in a precarious position across the top but once angled up a middle path powered through and grabbed the lead 100m out. He won by a length to clock 1:36.12 and that was only three lengths superior to the Ratings 75 in the race prior. Volkstok’n’barrell was winning his seventh race in seventeen starts and scoring a first victory amazingly as a 4yo. It also showed he loves the mile with this being win three from four outings at the trip and the defeat came when fourteenth of fourteen in the G1 Makybe Diva at Flemington last September from a bad barrier. His win today unmasks several G1 at WFA pretenders in New Zealand and showed the vast gap between local and Australian depth at this scale. Mongolian Khan owns Volkstok’n’barrell when it comes to stamina and Turn Me Loose will have his measure as a sprinter miler but he is the number three on the pecking order of ability regarding New Zealand trained gallopers at the moment. Julinsky Prince ran a brave second after being used up to go second the outer and then fought hard the run home. The third finisher Scapolo was wide then took the lead after 600m and fought well but he in fact shows the lack of genuine depth in the field. He has never been of G1 standard and at three outings prior to today at this level has finished tenth, twelfth and thirteenth. Authentic Paddy fought well for fourth and highlighted the race bias as second to fourth all ended up on settling down in the first three spots to the home turn. This however also embellishes the winning performance as he could pick this lot up and drop them so he will always be dominant in New Zealand when fully fit. Kawi again got beaten as a hotpot and while he fought on down the outer after things went wrong early he is certainly one-dimensional and must have pace in the race to close the deal. A tardy beginning from a good barrier then saw him charge up into the midfield and pull his block off before actually needing to be very forcibly restrained off heels by his rider. He made a run wide across the top but when the leaders quickened for a sprint home in effect he was the deepest runner turning in and hit that flat spot which is now a constant part of his make up. The fact he finished fifth beaten just over two lengths was admirable to some extent but for his given clearly too high a local rating it was another miss and his six G1 starts this season for three wins has shown it. Vespa was okay only while Eternity was far from disgraced at this level. The Diamond One got galloped on so her miss can be excused while Ringo was once again found out at G1. Ringo has had five goes now at G1 for nothing and his best effort came in this race last year when fourth of nine runners beaten three and a half lengths in another modest run race. The race also had nine runners in the year before that and just five starters the prior year. Tommy Tucker was outclassed. Volkstok’n’barrell will most likely tackle another soft kill G1 at WFA over 2000m at Ellerslie in two weeks and then a Sydney campaign will be considered with the G1 Doncaster a possible target.