This was not a very strong G3 Counties Cup run at Avondale today because the Pukekohe track is under repair. The winning time of 2:09.98 for 2100m summed up the race that turned out to be more a sprint home and the winner Noble Warrior was an 8yo that had not won a clockwise race since October of 2012. Noble Warrior paid $63 a win and should have been paying double that on his form with just seven days prior he had finished fifteenth in the G3 NZ Cup (3200m) at Riccarton beaten almost twenty-six lengths. The trip home from the South Island alone would be taxing. The last three wins by Noble Warrior all came in the weaker South Island depth fields by far on heavy ground. One saving grace was he ran second in this race last year, at Pukekohe, when caught on the line paying $54 and the time was slower being 2:10.54. Atacama ran third in the race as a lightly tried type and her form this season has been super with three wins in a row including two at Listed level. Noble Warrior should still have been paying triple figures under 58kg at his eighty-sixth start as his rider Rogan Norvall has been in worse form this season and had an awfully barred last season too. Today was the first winner for the season for Norvall in forty-four rides. The first shock of the race was normal backrunner Templeten crossed over to lead a lap out for rider Rory Hutchings. It was the first time this horse had ever led lifetime and he was having start forty-five today. He got away with cheap sectionals down the backstraight and for some of across the top so should have and did kick well for third. Just to make the top three result more dubious the second finisher Nothing Trivial was just a four-win galloper in the field jumping two grades at least from his win prior. The fact he almost won a G3 at his first ever blacktype outing says it all. The fourth finisher The Tidy Express ran on well as she often does but not enough pace in the race too help her cause plus she carried 58kg. Her stablemate Delago’s Secret ran on well from the rear trio or quartet on settling and he has scope but needs to break his clockwise hoodoo first. Postman’s Daughter was an honest sixth and she like the winner last raced in the G3 NZ Cup (3200m) a week ago at Riccarton in the South Island where she finished a brave fifth. The eyecatching runs, of which there were several owing to the way the race was run, came from Decorah (eighth) and Lady Le Fay (ninth) in particular. Merit in the effort of Coachline when tenth as never ever on the track, while Boninsky ran on the inner late for eleventh. All in all this could be the worst Counties Cup field for depth for a very long time if not ever and another old well tried galloper winning at Group level is not making New Zealand field depth look in a very good light. This race and result cannot be trusted at all as a guide and where are the younger stamina bred gallopers coming through?