Sacre bleu! Puissance De Lune is one French stayer who's showing a ton of class ... but be careful

THE hype for Puissance De Lune, the high-flying grey from France, for the Melbourne Cup just might be justified.

Puissance de Lune

DECLARING a horse the winner of the 2013 Melbourne Cup four days after the 2012 Melbourne Cup is silly.

Taking $6.50 about a horse in the Cup eight months before the race is run is even sillier, but that is all part of the hype for Puissance De Lune, the high-flying grey from France.

If you didn't see his run in the Blamey Stakes at Flemington on Saturday, see a replay. It was magic.

His five-length win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2500m) four days after the Melbourne Cup was possibly even better. Superlatives are easy to find for this flashy import.

But, a few words of warning. Firstly, Puissance De Lune was beaten at $1.20 at Warrnambool last October, so upsets can happen.

Secondly, don't forget the bookies live on the Harbour and drive big cars. The punters live in the suburbs and ride pushbikes.

Let's here it for the boys
WATCHING Super Cool and Fiveandahalfstar street the older horses and beat them by five lengths in the Australian Cup emphasises just how good a crop of three-year-olds we have.

As good as these two are, who wants to rate them above Pierro, All Too Hard, Proisir or It's a Dundeel?

Hugh know he's the ice man
HUGH Bowman's winning ride on Shoot Out in the Chipping Norton Stakes was the result of an ice-cool nerve, plenty of patience and the realisation he could not go around the field and win.

It all came off and that is why Hughey is one of our best in the big ones.

Shoot Out , the winner of 10 races, has won $3 million in prizemoney after costing just $15,000 as a yearling before So You Think put the boom on the High Chaparrals.

Technology taking over at Randwick
MOVES are afoot for the Australian Turf Club-owned TVN to cut costs by building a TV studio in the old tote building on Randwick racecourse, which in recent years is where the TAB has housed its high-rollers' room.

In this day of advanced technology it is not necessary for the high rollers to be on track and the room has become obsolete.

Old story rings true
RICHARD Freedman asked on Sky yesterday morning: "When are we going to get some pace in these 1400m races at Warwick Farm?"

They did roll along in Steps In Time's race, but they held up in Dear Demi's race and also in Skyerush's race, the three events from the 1400m chute.

Richard, you are spot on, and three-quarters of the races run out of this chute with its 1000m straight run are the same. The sooner somebody reopens the old 1400m chute and thinks of the customers instead of the participants the better.

Punters pay in the long run
IT is wrong to say punters are not affected by the bookies' turnover tax going up to 2 per cent for "feature" race meetings in NSW.

Like all businesses, all cost increases are passed on to the customer, in this case the punter through tighter betting markets.

Racing NSW believes the corporate bookies can afford the increase, but it is not them but the on-course bookies, who are one of the few racing drawcards left, who are most affected.

With dwindling attendances on city tracks, these blokes do not have an audience to play to and I have no doubt the increased tax will force some of them to the wall (eventually possibly all of them) and God help us when that happens.

Then we will find out what short prices really are.

Visit pays dividends for Clark
GOOD to see Timmy Clark come home and ride a winner on Bonaria at Flemington on Saturday.

Like Zac Purton and Tye Angland, Tim is having a big year in Hong Kong, running fifth in the premiership with 28 winners.