But Doncaster-Derby day was a celebration of what makes racing great. It was Australasian, lacking nothing due to the absence of internationals, and the Doncaster lived up to the expectation of Australias best race.
Certainly the Pat Webster-Happy Clapper-Blake Shinn triumph was a highlight but so, too, the ATC Australian Derby which ended in a nose margin after a two-horse war.
And what about Ben Looker on Victorem in the Country Championships, the major innovation to the Sydney autumn and a major influence on NSW racing?
Many shied off Victorem because of the bush hoop but he rose to the occasion with a brilliant ride.
Apart from Happy Clapper, with whom Shinn has developed a wonderful understanding, the Doncaster was riddled with top efforts, including DArgento, which confirmed his potential by finishing fourth.
DArgento has a limited hind quarter but will improve with maturity, according to trainer Chris Waller.
Of course the rear end of Winx is superb yet after watching her exhibition gallop on Saturday I wondered whether she had lightened off a tad.
“No, she has put on weight,” Waller stressed about the champ, which has kindled the argument about modern fillies and mares getting too much weight off stallions and geldings in set-weight races.
Frank Smith, as keen and enthusiastic turf authority as there is, asked on Saturday why modern champions such as Black Caviar and Makybe Diva, as well as Winx, should be getting such an edge on the supposed stronger gender, a point advocated for years by another authority on the subject, Dr Geoff Chapman?
Again fillies dominated the Sires Produce with El Dorado Dreaming, starting at $81, downing Oohood, which followed their dominance in the Golden Slipper. In 1969, Hyland aboard Vain, who started at 6-1 on, went down to Beau Babylon (33-1).
No doubt the Derby battle down the straight between Levendi and Ace High, prepared to the nicety by David Payne and given every chance by Tye Angland, makes it one of the most memorable.
“It would have been a wonderful milestone to win the Derby double,” Payne, the veteran South African gentleman, commented later.
But Payne only went down by the barest margin after a protest for a slight brush. Nothing beats winning and Levendi is as game as they come, attributes developed by the enthusiastic Gelagotis brothers, Peter and Manny, whose joy is infectious.
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Angland gained compensation with the triumph of Trapeze Artist in the TJ Smith, one of Australia's greatest sprints, usually dominated by colts and geldings. Obviously the mare In Her Time should have ended much closer than a distant third.
No doubt there are some who get stimulated by stud values that centred on the colt Trapeze Artist but potentially great horses being scuttled away to the breeding barn does nothing for me.
Racing is my thing and it doesnt get any better than Randwick last Saturday. Unlike the race records, the 19,832 attendance didnt set new highs but those absent dont know what they missed.
Leaving the track, horses again played a role: police mounts directing traffic. One, a German bred with a rear end better suited to pulling a cart, was far removed from those who made the action inside. But he was superb and provoked the thought of how activists could ever put marbles down in protests to unsettle these gentle giants.
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