DOOM AUG 27 - RELIEF AS TAFEER GETS DUE REWARD

By Graham Potter | Sunday, August 28, 2011

Doomben, August 27, 2011.
Track - Heavy 8. Rail - out 2m.
No Metro Wins Handicap (Fillies And Mares) - 1350m.
1 Tafeer; 2 Fleet Riane; 3 Beggin; 4 Figasaurus.
Time: 1-21.58. Last 600m: 36.10.
Margins: 1.00; 1.75.

Some horses test their trainer’s patience more than others. Tafeer is such a horse and Kelly Schweida is her long-suffering trainer.

Being able to follow a regime of patience and perseverance is one of the most important attributes for anybody entering a career in horseracing and when that commitment finds its reward it is a satisfying result.

Not that Schweida showed any particular jubilation at Saturday’s result. If anything, there was more relief in his expression than anything else, but Tafeer did have another win on the board.

It was in fact her fourth win from sixteen starts, so nobody can argue with her strike-rate. In one sense her wayward attitude has presented a challenge to the trainer and the scoreboard is credit to his expertise. Jockey Glen Colless, who had not piloted the horse in a race before, must also relish a challenge. He chased the ride and was confident he could carry the day. His experience and deft touch arguably was a vital factor in the win.

Tafeer (the $3.60 favourite) became the third consecutive on-pace runner (and the second outright leader) to win in as many races on the day.

It was a fairly clinical win as Colless let his mount stride out freely from her wide draw and she established a comfortable lead in the early stages. At no stage did the second placed runner get closer than a length-and-a-half off the leader and Colless continued to control both the pace and the gap back to the second horse all the way to the turn.

At that stage Colless was still sitting quietly on the leader and he continued to be kind to his mount in the straight. It was only inside the final 180m that Colless got busy on Tafeer to keep her mind on the job, but, in essence, the race was already won at that stage.

The $17.00 outsider Fleet Raine was the only runner making up any ground from behind, but Tafeer still had a length to spare at the line.

Tafeer is owned by M V O Racing (Mgr: K O’Keefe).

Tafeer has won four of sixteen starts (with four minor placings). Her stake earnings now stand at $78 450.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Kelly Schweida: “She’s a real bitch. She is a bugger to work. Glen O’Sullivan does a great job riding her in work. Glen (Colless) has been begging me to ride her and he’s manager’s been annoying me a while now to ride this mare. He told me he’d be winning on it … and he was probably the right man to ride her.

“She’s just about tried all of the tricks she has.

“I think the way it worked out was exactly what he (Colless) was planning to do. He would have wanted to just keep enough in front so that they wouldn’t take her on.

“She deserved that win. There was a bit of a query whether she would handle the wet. She has won on a dead. She got the job done and deserved the win.”

Jockey Glen Colless: “She doesn’t help herself. She just goes too hard for her own good and if you try and stop her she gets her head up and starts to get really awkward. That puts you in a difficult position and you are not certain where your best option is.

“I just let her stride along a bit today and let her be where she was happy because if you try to hold her a touch too much it just doesn’t happen. That kept the others away from us a bit. That probably helped her a touch.

“She is a sour little thing. As soon as she straightened up she put her ears flat back on her head, but too her credit she was still hitting the line strong.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Tafeer): 3.20 out to 3.60.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Carry Me Baby (J. Byrne) was slow to begin. Bellaspirit (R. Wiggins), which was laying on the side partition, began awkwardly and faltered at the start.

Beggin (M. Hellyer) over-raced at the heels of Tafeer (G. Colless) during the middle stages.

Fleet Riane (R. McMahon) raced three wide throughout.

Passing the 400m Figasaurus (B. Looker) shifted out to gain clear running and in doing so forced Special Something (A. Spinks), which was inclined to hang out and race with its head on the side, wider on the track.

Rider M. Palmer reported that Lines Of Time travelled comfortably through the early and middle stages, however when placed under pressure did not respond to his riding in the prevailing track conditions.

Following the running of this event the track was further downgraded to a Heavy 8.

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