EF OCT 01 - WARRIOR WITHIN SHINES THROUGH

By Graham Potter | Monday, October 3, 2011

Eagle Farm, October 1, 2011.
Benchmark 90 Handicap - 2100m.
1 Warrior Within; 2 Eureka; 3 Patmoss; 4 Mr Armstrong.
Track: Good 3. Rail: True.
Time: 2-12.16. Last 600: 36.36

He might not have the flashest form in town, but in terms of honesty you will have to go a long way to find a horse to match the all around endeavour of Warrior Within.

Warrior Within almost always puts in a solid effort. Of course that doesn’t mean he goes close to winning every time. As with every runner, sometimes the best of his opposition is just too good for him … other times the draw, luck in the running etc have complicated his task.

But every now and then honest endeavour gets its reward and Saturday was one of those occasions for Warrior Within who notched up his tenth win from forty-nine starts when he got the better of Eureka in the home straight to scored a well judged win.

Talk about toughness! This was no less than Warrior Within’s fifteen run this preparation which includes three victories. They arrived in the Murwullimbah Cup, The Grafton Cup (in which he turned the tables on Ipswich up winner Gold In Dubai) and the win on Saturday.

His run of results during this time also include a close-up fifth placing just 1.80 lengths behind Spechenka in the Coloundra Cup.

Not afraid to travel his horse trainer Bruce Hill also sent Warrior Within out to contest the Wyong Cup and the Newcastle Cup. In the former he had to contend with the extreme outside draw (fourteen out of fourteen) and beaten out of the placings, finishing 6.00 lengths behind The Verminator, who, notably, went on to land the Group 1 Metropolitan at Randwick on Saturday a couple of hours after Warrior Within had won at Eagle Farm.

Clearly Warrior Within is never a horse that can be taken lightly.

Trainer Bruce Hill: “He’s just a nice old horse going good.

“He’s been in work a long, long time. He’s been in work since January 1. He is doing well to be still firing … but, then again, he is a tough horse and he is a very fit horse.

“No, I’ve got no regrets about bringing him back from down south (where he ran in the Wyong and Newcastle Cups). He’s done a lot of racing and had some hard races.

“He was happy here today and Paul (Hammersley) rode him very well actually.

“Like I say, he’s just a good old horse to me. He’s always managed to look after me here and there.”

Jockey Paul Hammersley: “The idea was to have him handy enough in case they walked so we could do our own thing. We didn’t think there would be a lot of speed unless someone rolled along, but the tempo was quite nice and that allowed us to run into the race.

“There was a lovely cruising speed there from the 1000m onwards and he moved forward well when I asked him. At the 300 I thought I had Eureka beat pretty easy, but once my bloke put his head in front he sort of thought the race was over.

“He did keep bowling along, but that’s probably about as far as he wants to go. He lasted long enough anyway.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Warrior Within): 4.80 out to 6.00 in to 5.50.
Favourite (Mr Armstrong): 2.80 out to 3.50. Finished fourth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Near the 1600m when Eureka (J. Byrne) crossed to the lead, Loves A Challenge (E. Wilkinson) began to over-race at that runner's heels and shifted out, making contact with Mr Armstrong (M. Hellyer).

Jockey E. Wilkinson reported that Loves A Challenge was reluctant to improve to the inside of Eureka (J. Byrne) when clear running was available approaching and passing the 200m.

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