Ballarat Men's Gift 120m

So much we can talk about here as well. Backing up after Wangaratta we have a lot more entries for the Men's Gift at Ballarat. It is always a good field with many spectacular results. Some quality athletes have chosen the title of Ballarat. Our own POD back in around the late 90's ran about 12.2 to win, not to be outdone R Ballard won off about the same mark in about the same time the next year. POD has won it recently as well. One of my favourites was to watch one young man called Oyanadel (sorry about my spelling here) smash the field in a time many thought would have put him in the frame to win Stawell later that year. Who will we be talking about this year?

Well that is new. Vote on this poll please. I must have clicked twice to submit the poll.

Luke Houlihan

Matthew Rizzo

RYAN ILETT

Jasper Nettlefold

Kristerfer Kardakovski

Mark Hignett

Winner

Luke Houlihan

Hi All,
This is the poll to cast your votes and discussion through. The other poll (duplicate) has been closed. It only had 4 votes in total on it, so it shouldn't be to inaccurate to cast them on this poll.
Apologies for any inconvenience but it will be too inaccurate to analyse 2 sets of votes.
Thanks all

final:
johns
houlihan
morehouse
moloney
brittain
nettlefold
dunbar
whittaker

winner: moloney

Moloney will win a Ballarat sash but it wont be the Gift. He will shit the Restricted in.

Ballarat is the home town of Moloney, so expecting him to perform well.

What a race this one could be. There are a number of combinations that could make the final and judging by the voting we are not sure of the outcome.

Nathan Riali 3 / Will Johns 4 9% - Riali will not win. Final but not win. Johns is an interesting one. He runs very sparingly on grass. I do not see him taking the win from a number of the guys who have been making finals so while he may be coming home strongly he wont make it. Semi final.

Cam Dunbar 8.5m / Nicholas Florio 8.5m 12% - Dunbar is a quality athlete. There are probably some young athletes that could learn a thing or two by watching him. I remember when he first came on the scene and was compared to the nightmare handicapper. He is quality in his own right. It was mentioned that he had made 8 Wangaratta finals in a row, a feat that may not ever be matched. Credit where credit is due tonight for my post about him. He has not won a Ballarat Gift before. This may be his chance. Florio, sorry but these votes cannot be for you. Dunbar will live up to the consistency label he has been given over the years.

Kris Kardakovski 10.25m / Craig Mair 10.25m 8% - Is it Kim Kardashione that shares the initials? KK will go hard enough to make the final. His form turn around has been very good from last season. I still think he could drop some of his bulk but his astute trainer is probably on this already. Over a 100m race he could be very dangerous. Is Stonnington the goal? Mair won here but is still behind his winning mark. I do not see him making the final of this race but he will be in the mix for the Master's bonus with the likes of Downes, Pasquali, York and Rogers.

Tim Rosen 13.25m / Vic Sharma 13.5m 8% - The weekly update on Rosen I guess. Well, he has been training well. He is getting his strength back and he will not win here. For me his time was early in the season. He will probably change his focus multiple times before the end of the season. His 13.25m is starting to get dangerous again. If not this season he will be in the frame next season again. Is he part of what Mara was calling the cartel? Sharma, no votes for you.

I was hoping for more votes for one particular athlete as I felt an old timers joke brewing but alas you spoilt my fun. Hopefully they match up with Rosen again. But I didn't want them to ride on his Coates tails again. See you all up there or see you at the Nitro.