The Victoria Cup at Tabcorp Melton was won by the Cran Dalgety trained Bettors Strike and while the win was deserved, to be fair to the beaten brigade, any horse in that race would have won the event with the same run. Imagine what Monkey King would have done to his rivals had he been behind Smoken Up coming to the turn.

Bettors Strike has come a long way in a short period of time and I think it's fair to say that most Australians would have said "Bettors who" before the New Zealand Cup carnival started. Star young reinsman Dexter Dunn made the comment after the Victoria Cup that a chimp could have driven him to victory and he was quick to heap praise on Dalgety. The horse's training regime was radically changed after a poor start to his career and the difference according to Dunn is somewhere in the realm of 20 lengths!

I highlighted an interesting statistic on Sunday night during Sky Racing's In the Gig that no runner from this year's Miracle Mile had won its next start in stark contrast to recent history. While Monkey King's run was clearly the run of the race on Friday night and had he settled closer he would have won the race, it is interesting to note that several horses have been below their best after running at Tabcorp Park Menangle in Australasian mile record time.

Smoken Up finished second in both the Miracle Mile and the Victoria Cup and I think it's fair to say that his performance on Friday night was a length or two off what he produced at Menangle. Karloo Mick finished third in the Miracle Mile and was disappointing by his lofty standards at Bankstown after finding the lead in the Treuer Memorial. The fourth horse in the Miracle Mile was Kiwi Ingenuity and while she was trapped outside the leader at Alexandra Park last Friday night she was expected to toy with a field of mares however she was below her best and finished second more than 15 metres behind the winner. Melpark Major was fifth in the Miracle Mile and while brave on Friday night in the Victoria Cup couldn't find that extra gear in the home straight. Auckland Reactor was sixth at Menangle and hasn't started since. Blacks A Fake put in a couple of rough strides in the Miracle Mile and then looked the winner on Friday night when Natalie Rasmussen pulled him out on the turn but he failed to run down the leaders. Since then there have been several people suggesting Rasmussen is close to retiring the three time Inter Dominion winner. Lonestar Legend has gone to the paddock and has not raced since the Miracle Mile.

I am not suggesting the Miracle Mile has totally flattened the competitors, far from it. What I am suggesting is that running a personal best on a warm Sydney afternoon has taken its toll and with only 12 days between features, the horses haven't had long enough to get back to 100%. The top horses only have to be 1 or 2% off their best to be vulnerable at the highest level. First up in FFA company Smoken Up might not have to be at his best but it's a totally different story in Victoria Cup company.

The decision to run the Victoria Cup over the 2240 metres has a lot of participants scratching their heads. When the event was run at Moonee Valley the race was run over 2575 metres but without a similar starting point at Tabcorp Park Melton, administrators were left with a decision, 2240 or 2760 and decided to go with the shorter trip. I wouldn't be surprised to see the race extended to 2760 metres next year.

Another observation from the Victoria Cup meeting was whether the decision to run the meeting on a Friday night was the correct one. Melton is quite a distance from Melbourne and the trip to the track can be a slow one during peak hour traffic. Obviously Saturday night would have less traffic on the road for those making the journey to the track and it will be interesting to see whether HRV decide to move to a Saturday night for next year's meeting.

Not only were the distance and day wrong for the Victoria Cup meeting but the decision to allow a Moonee Valley gallop meeting on the same night was bizarre to say the least. Harness racing would never be given permission to hold a meeting on Cox Plate Day so why does the Victoria Cup meeting have to compete with the gallops? On a Friday night there is already plenty of action to bet on and it was disappointing to see a feature harness race wrap up be cut short by a 3000 metre event at Moonee Valley.

A number of drivers are going to struggle to come to terms with the new whip rules that come into being at the start of the new year. Reading the stewards report from the Victoria Cup, Lance Justice was fined $500 for his use of the whip in the concluding stages. It isn't the first time that Justice has fallen foul of the stewards for this, he was fined a similar amount for his use of the whip in the New Zealand Cup. I can't wait to see what Justice does in the first feature race of 2010 when Smoken Up is in front and his rivals are reeling him in. For Justice's sake and for the punters, I hope the new whip rules will be modified. If not several drivers are going to be lighter in the pocket and face lengthy stints on the sidelines and a number of punters will walk away from the sport concerned with the perceived lack of vigour. Yes I agree there needs to be a change to the current rules but the stewards should be the ones stamping out excessive use not a blanket rule that could be detrimental to the sport. Catch you next week.