This G1 1000 Guineas over a mile for three-year-old fillies only ended up a sedate contest and was won well by the Australian bred Media Sensation. Once again the Riccarton track was posted as a Good3 but the times were ordinary and almost every runner was being angled well away from the inside and up the middle lanes the run home and that looks ridiculous on a supposed dry track day. The wet track here the first day and then incredibly putting on of 10mls of water two days later looks the reason the inside were shot for the last two days, so that is a manmade mistake and cause of the visual dilemma. The winners and where they turned for home today were third deep, second wide, second centre track, third closer in (but still three and four-off the rail), co-leader (five off the fence), fifteenth (four and five off the rail and three and a half lengths from the leader), co-leader outer (three off the rail and five or six off soon after), twelfth (third widest runner), led (five off the rail), third (eight-off the rail) and second outer (four off the rail). Staggeringly in three days of racing at Riccarton and 31 races just two winners led up and they came at 2500m and 3200m (two turn races), so the track was brutally biased against leaders and of course the inside lanes were a total no go area all week. Media Sensation was wide near the early pace but got over one-off outside the pace without too much fuss and in fact aggressively pushed one of her main rivals onto the fence into the trail too with a decent don't argue bump. The strongly built filly then had a soft run second the outer and was controlling the race thereafter before challenging turning for home and leading at the 350m. She was clear at the 200m and never looked like stopping going on to win by half a length in 1:36.43, which is a very ordinary time when you consider a standard run of the mill maiden time is 1:36 flat for this trip. They can run a fast mile time here as the track record is 1:32.83 set at this carnival back in 2008 by Mufhasa. Valalie was a super brave second and the Australian bred filly had her issues pre-start too sitting down in her stalll and having to be unloaded and vet checked before given the all clear. The race was delayed for an eternity and for many of the fillies standing in the stall for too long worked totally against them. It is worth noting the last horse to load after all the drama was the winner Media Sensation, the second to last horse to load was the runner up Valalie and the third last to load and able to be kept loose behind the gates was the fourth finisher Secret Allure. Slow loading races can be the difference at G1 level especially with younger horses, as it means some are lucky not yet standing in the gates idle and are able to be kept active and warm. Valalie was sixth wide with cover early then left fourth wide in the open and moved up third across the top to the home turn. She dug deep to be second at the 150m and tried ever so hard after covering so much extra ground. Sure the manmade track bias helped and it being a slow run race did too but she was still very game in defeat all things factored in. Xpression ran favourite and had every possible chance in finishing third after getting a good run fourth or fifth the outer. She got out and into clear air with ample time to ping but could not lift as she is known for enough and after being fourth at the 200m reached third at the 100m and was beaten just under two lengths. A maiden in the race came home quicker than her the final 600m, so it may be that Xpression is like most of this field a sprinter rather than a miler. Secret Allure ran on well from the rear trio mostly and after turning for home for ninth drove through to fifth at the 200m and then fourth at the 100m. Imelda Mary, a maiden, ran on well from the rear trio and was angled the second widest turning for home when eleventh at this stage. She kept coming and was ninth at the 200m and sixth at the 100m before getting fifth the final 10m and ran the second best closing 600m, with Secret Allure the fastest. Miss Curios, also a maiden, was a game sixth after being eighth and wide (with cover) then seventh wide and up fifth wider across the top then sixth turning for home. She never gave it in and to be beaten by less than four lengths was rugged indeed. Emily Margaret was a tad tardy and second last away before recovering to be seventh then eighth but then just battled away the run home to be beaten over four lengths. Wekaforce was disputing the early pace then led and was then allowed to be pressure free until being joined turning for home. She was still second at the 200m in a sprint home but weakened out to finish eighth and was beaten five and a half lengths. Easy M'Lady was noticed running on late from being last and wide and looks to have a future. Melt the second favourite did what her name is pre-start and then raced too keen on the pace and her rider was desperately trying to stay off the fence but got heavily bumped onto the inside to trail by the eventual winner. She was never travelling thereafter across the top and was fourth and flat turning for home before weakening out to seventh at the 200m then tenth at the line beaten five and three-quarter lengths. The rest got outclassed and were beaten over ten lengths to over thirteen lengths and all were maidens it should be noted. This was not a deep field at all as it contained five maidens in the field of thirteen. The time was poor and the track ran manmade biased all day so there has to be asterisks in regards to this being a true and proper reflection of the filly pecking order. Media Sensation however looks bulletproof and has tactical speed but Xpression was a tad below par and Melt was totally underwhelming, so the three main runners pre-race did not all turn up fully armed and ready to fire on the day. Melt is best clockwise and with some cushion or cut in the ground and may well be better situated chasing Group form from a Sydney stable next Autumn that then has the option to chase the Queensland Winter blacktype too. Valalie was huge in defeat but then you see how the maidens Imelda Mary and Miss Curious went so it does put some perspective into the race result as a whole. The vast majority of this field are sprinters only and bred as much so the mile was always a bridge too far. The field had two Australian bred fillies in it and they ran the quinella and were dominant over the rest, so the strength of New Zealand racing is now under pressure. Australian bred fillies and mares are taking on and succeeding in New Zealand against that countries one constant strength for decades and that is the filly and mare. There is always a heap of winners to come out of this race in New Zealand as many of these fillies will improve a huge amount late Summer and into the Autumn. However with the race time poor, manmade track bias outrageous and that lengthy delay pre-start proving consequential it does make the overall result somewhat dubious.