Last year Typhoon Tracy (pictured) won the CF Orr Stakes in a canter, beating Heart Of Dreams. The race was run as expected, with Danzylum leading and Typhoon Tracy parked on his back and Heart Of Dreams right with them. The race also included Zipping and Shocking, both resuming from highly wins in the spring.In the run to the line, Typhoon Tracy had too much class.

Twelve months on and we are faced with Groundhog Day, a race of almost identical composition and likely to be run exactly as it was in 2010. The field includes all the horses just mentioned. Danzylum, like last year, comes off a good form line in Listed races – winning the Barton Stakes and Chester Manifold Stakes (last year he won the Barton and was second in the Chester Manifold) – and he will lead. Typhoon Tracy and Heart Of Dreams, from good barriers, will be tracking him.

The big differences this year are (a) Melbourne’s fickle “summer” weather; (b) the inclusion of Typhoon Tracy’s talented stablemate Doubtful Jack into the mix; (c) the brilliant Group 1 class mare Ortensia; and (d) a fresh Trusting who just might run to his best form after a torrid nine-start winless spring campaign.

The weather is the key. Track manager Jason Kerr said on Thursday that he expects a dead4 rating, despite the threat of rain. A storm hit Thursday night (6.5mm fell at Caulfield), and up to 50mm is expected on Friday – whether it falls at Caulfield is another thing.

Trainer Peter Moody said he doesn’t want a slowish track for Typhoon Tracy, but on the other hand such a track is ideal for Doubtful Jack, who showed last winter that he is a “duck”.

The early tactics of the Moody pair will be interesting. I expect Doubtful Jack, a Listed winner first up in Tasmania, to roll forward and sit outside Danzylum, giving Typhoon Tracy a perfect trail into the race. I know others will expect the mare to take it up to Danzylum.

Typhoon Tracy hasn’t won for 10 months, but her campaign, as it was last autumn, is more geared to races up to 1600 metres, so I expect her to be more forward, after her solid first up run at Moonee Valley – than she was in the spring when she was being trained for longer distances.

Trainer Mick Price said he doubts Heart Of Dreams can win. Such a pessimistic attitude is unlike Price, but I think he is selling his game little horse short. Heart Of Dreams loves Caulfield, handles the sting out of the track and he will get a cosy run behind the pace.

Ortensia is the interesting runner. I have done well laying her in big races in the past 12 months, but I think trainer Tony Noonan has got it right by quickly getting her to 1400 metres. She will have more tactical speed at this trip after a sound fourth behind Whitefriars in an unsuitable Australian Stakes (1200m, Moonee Valley) in which Typhoon Tracy finished third.

Another horse that I have had a good time “potting” this season is Trusting, but this talented horse goes best fresh, as he did in the spring when he ran a couple of Group 1 seconds at Randwick.

The tips: Typhoon Tracy 1, Heart Of Dreams 2, Doubtful Jack 3, Ortensia 4, Trusting 5, Danzylum 6.

The impressive Lohengrin, a debut 10-length winner today at Ballarat, is likely to be compared with another Darley star, Denman.

But first let’s have a look at Lohengrin’s Group 1 pedigree.

Lohengrin is by the great Lonhro from the mare Suede (by Quest For Fame (GB)), a daughter of Woodlands Stud’s brilliant Group 1 winning mare Shame, by Scenic (IRE) from the imported mare Shamayil (USA), who in turn is a daughter of the champion racemare Kilijaro (IRE), by African Sky (GB), who won Group 1 races in France and North America.

Shame won the 1995 Group 1 QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm, before returning from a spell to win the Group 1 One Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield in the spring of that year.

It took a while for Shame to find her feet as a broodmare, and it wasn’t until her smart son Demerit won the 2009 Group 3 Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield that she recorded her only Stakes winner from six named foals.

Suede is Shame’s second foal, born in 1999. Unfortunately for her owners, Darley, she died in February 2010 after leaving only three foals. Her second foal, after Lohengrin, is a 2YO filly, Blaize (by Commands), and she has a 2009 colt by Flying Spur.

The Lonhro-Quest For Fame cross has previously produced the Stakes winner Serenissima, the Stakes-placed duo Khas Kura and Tromso and the multiple winners Shatters, Buona Fortune and Crunches.

Lohengrin ($2.10 fav), looking a bit like Lonhro’s best son Denman in both style and dark brown colour, showed great pace to lead at Ballarat, before charging away to win eased down by jockey Mark Zahra – second favourite Domesky (by Domesday) ran home from near last for second.

It will be interesting to see if trainer Peter Snowdon considers that Lohengrin is mature enough for some tougher spring assignments, including the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m, Flemington) in March, a race that eluded Denman when he started $1.60 favourite last year.

Denman, like Lohengrin, started his career modestly with a maiden 2YO win at Kilmore in June 2009 before winning his next two starts at Flemington and Sandown. He returned from a short break to dominate the early spring in Sydney, winning three times, including the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m, Rosehill) and the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1400m, Randwick) before finishing seventh ($2.10 fav) behind Starspangledbanner in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m).

Denman won his first three starts in the autumn before again failing when stretched to 1600m, but he failed to finish off his race in the Australian Guineas, coming in fourth at behind Rock Classic. He was sent to Europe but didn’t race there before returning to stand at stud at Darley in the Hunter Valley last spring.

Lohengrin also may be too brilliant to run a strong 1600 metres, although his pedigree suggests that distance is a perfect fit. Then again, he may not be a Denman, but a Reset, a horse who emerged in the autumn with five unbeaten starts, including the Group 1 Futurity Stakes and the Australian Guineas in 2004. That’s a story only time will tell.

Photo: Denman (Kerrin McEvoy) in full flight at Rosehill.

Darrel Baldock, who was labelled “Mr Magic” for his talents as a VFL footballer, had another passion that consumed much of his life, horse racing.

Baldock, who died aged 72 on Wednesday, not only took up breeding thoroughbreds, he also trained them from his Devonport base.

There is not a cup in Tasmania that he didn’t win. In the early 1980s, he won a Hobart Cup and Launceston Cup with Andrias, a horse that also won the 1981 Duke Of Norfolk Stakes at Flemington. Baldock’s last really top-class horse, Chardere, won two of Baldock’s four Devonport Cups in 2002 and 2004.

In 1996, Baldock’s outstanding stayer Sir Rhythmic took the Melbourne winter carnival by storm, winning the Australian Hurdle at Sandown and the Grand National Hurdle at Flemington.

The much-loved Baldock is regarded as AFL team St. Kilda’s spiritual leader, having led them to the club’s only premiership in 1966, but to the racing community in Tasmania, he was a father figure and a joy to be around at the track.

Photo: The most recent good horse raced by Darrel Baldock, the smart Mystery Quest.