This was not a very strong G3 NZ Cup (3200m) field under handicap conditions at all and saw the first five over the line separated by less than three lengths. 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. Bizzwinkle, trained at Matamata in the North Island did something only one other runner did at Riccarton in the three days of racing this week and that was lead outright and win. North Island prepared runners filled the first five spots over the line and in fact eight of the first nine home were Northerners and the other was a former Northerner. The 5yo gelding Bizzwinkle was wide on the pace and then led a lap out and was never headed thereafter scoring by a long head in 3:22.58. The time is ordinary and the modern track record here is by Sapio of 3:17.81 set in 1998, which is 28 lengths faster than today. It was the fifth win in seventeen starts by Bizzwinkle and today was the first time he has run in a Group race of any level so for him to be allotted 56.5kg in this shows the field lacked any serious depth. He unlike many in the field revels in decent footing and on Good ground has now raced five times for three wins and two placings. Duplicity gave him a fright the final 100m after racing midfield the inner early and then improving all the time to be fifth midrace and then angled off and coming wide at the 600m. The 6yo gelding carting the minimum of 53kg also in his first Group race of any level and just a four-win galloper had run fairly here the first day over 2500m and dropped 2kg in this. Felaar the second favourite carrying the minimum of 53kg ran a game third but had his chance after getting to fourth at the 200m but he was a bit dour thereafter. He raced ninth and wide with cover before getting in one-off twelfth with over half the race to go and then moved wide at the 600m as several were struggling. The 5yo gelding was ridden hard with the whip the run home and kept coming to get third with 20m to go but was two lengths from the winner at the line. He has won just two races showing this race is not really of a G3 standard and may have its rating assessed very soon. The winner Bizzwinkle ran third in the Listed St Leger (2500m) at Trentham in March earlier this year over 2500m and second in that event was Felaar, half a length ahead at the same weight importantly. Fourth home was Gorbachev, a three-win galloper that ran tenth in the Listed St Leger, so one race has almost produced the trifecta eight months later. Listed may in fact be the true level of the NZ Cup these days. The last time a winner of this race did anything of note outside New Zealand was the 1992 victor Mercator in 3:20.07 ridden by Chris Johnson, that would finish third for the same jockey in the 1993 Melbourne Cup won by Vintage Crop. The 1987 winner of the NZ Cup was the giant mare Empire Rose in 3:20.02 that would win the 1998 Melbourne Cup with Tony Allan the rider and she needed a stall-spreader she was that vast. Today in the 2018 NZ Cup, not wishing to show ageism, Tony Allan rode Gorbachev into fourth and Chris Johnson rode The Quiet Man into twelfth. Bee Tee Junior fought on well for fifth under 58kg after sitting fourth the outer. Mental Telepathy finished sixth beaten almost eight lengths but it was a brave run as he never got on the track at any stage and was four-wide for large chunks of the race. Shantav was the first currently South Island prepared runner and plugged on from back of the midfield and turning for home eleventh. Sampson trailed the leader and could not quicken under 59kg, while Sylvester passed a few late from well back. Dee And Gee, which led up 1800m out here last week and won a Listed 2500m easily at $51, moved up outside the winning leader a lap out but was battling before the home turn and finished tenth beaten over eleven lengths. Richard Of Yorke flopped again and The Quiet Man plugged past a couple from the rear then the gaps started to get bigger. Where Are You was over sixteen and a half lengths from the winner and then the rest were beaten over twenty lengths and up to forty-lengths. The 2018 edition of the NZ Cup was a very limited one indeed and the top rating horse in the New Zealand used scale was just 90 points, plus the topweight in the race ran last beaten out of sight. The Auckland Cup and Wellington Cup are not strong fields anymore either but both will be superior to this with absolute certainty.