Should Know Thyself be a new stakes-winner for The Autumn Sun? Paul Messara thought he was after winning the ‘as advertised’ Listed $500,000 The Coast at Gosford on Saturday, but as it turns out he’s not.
After the race Paul Messara was obviously in the dark on the status of The Coast believing the win had credited The Autumn Sun with a new stakes-winner.
"It's a fantastic program coming through that Country Championships race," Messara said.
"There is plenty of races for him and it's hard to avoid these races, it's a Listed race and another stakes winner for The Autumn Sun, who we have up at stud.
"It's fantastic."
Does the race deserve to carry Black Type and is Know Thyself worthy of being a stakes-winner?
The answer on both counts would appear to be yes based on form and facts, but the race is one of the contentious set of races that were upgraded by Racing NSW at the start of the season without the authority of various international bodies that govern such things.
Know Thyself has won seven of 10 starts making a steady progression from country grades to metro racing and winning the $1million Country Championship Final before then taking out a Benchmark 78 event under 61 kg.
He is the very definition of a horse that has worked it’s way up to a level that is deserving of stakes recognition in a catalogue.
The horses he beat on Saturday are last start Group II BRC Queensland Guineas winner Depth of Character and Mare of Mt Buller, a last start winner of the Group III ATC Epona Stakes.
It defies all commonsense and logic that the current situation as regards Black Type racing in this country has not been resolved.
We’re not dealing with Ukraine or the Ghaza strip, it’s just a couple of races being upgraded and far more being downgraded to fit with the modern racing world in which we now live.
For whatever reason certain parties choose to make this a far more complex issue than it deserves to be, however allowing politics to get in the way of commonsense is something men are very good at.
