A Brief Pause as We Reflect on 2026 so Far

Just a note to customers and interested onlookers alike, that FTY won’t have any coverage over Easter before returning for April and May. June will be a rest month, before returning for July and preparing for another Spring on the fence!

The start to 2026 has been enjoyable, both with the results and also from a horse-flesh perspective. TENTYRIS has probably been the headline act in terms of looks in Victoria, although GUEST HOUSE was certainly a head-turner from a 2yo perspective and could well be one of the stronger, ‘beast’ types of colt I’ve seen in recent years. In terms of 2yo fillies, ANGEL’S FURY was one of the better types seen (prior to her failing on debut at odds-on, beaten 17 lengths), while STREISAND has continued to parade as professionally as many horses more senior in their experience.

Certainly the Australian Cup was a fitting way to round out the first part of the year, and it could be one of the best races I’ve seen live. PRIDE OF JENNI continuing to find in the straight after going as fast as any horse can go early, only to be challenged and slowly worn down in a photo finish by one of my favourite horses over the years, LIGHT INFANTRY MAN…and it helped we had a collect on him too! It probably needs some reflection and research in to the best races I’ve had the privilege of seeing live, but even in the straight the crowd sensed something special was happening.

In terms of results, they continue a pleasing run of form. To summarise 2026 to date, the key stats are as follows:

23/289 successful win bets, 36/39 successful lay bets

23.71 units win bets, 20.33 lay units bet

9.21 win units profited at 38.86% POT, 13.62 lay units profited at 66.98% POT (both post 8% commission deducted)

These are largely in-line with the historic results, and while they won’t be consistently that high, we hope with the improvements made to date they continue to provide a good edge for those staking late in betting.

Over the coming months the aims will be to complete an upgrade to the template to add in a ‘sweat matrix’ separate to the current factor categories, as well as a separate ‘gallop-off’ score, to create overall greater flexibility.

We hope you’ve enjoyed your racing action to start 2026 and you continue to find many more winners as the new season begins in August before what could be one of the more exciting Spring Carnivals in recent memory. As always, any questions, please get in touch!

FTY/Pete