BRC JUL 25 - INTERTHEBLACK FLASHES HOME

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Doomben, July 25, 2009.
No Metro Wins Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-19.06.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 5m.
1 Intertheblack; 2 Deception Bay; 3 Spirito Volante.

Intertheblack dropped out from his wide draw and crossed to the inside of the track. He then raced untroubled in second last place and was hard held, right on the heels of the runners in front of him, approaching the turn.

Apprentice jockey Mitchell Speers elected to hold the inside line, saving ground, as the bulk of the field fanned wider. Then, on straightening, Speers let Intertheblack go and the four-year-old needed no second asking. Within a matter of one hundred metres - from the 350m mark to the 250m mark - Intertheblack turned the race on its head, surging to the lead, carried there by a level of acceleration that none of his rivals were able to match.

The favourite Deception Bay was the only runner to respond to Intertheblack’s aggressive forward move. With jockey Shane Scriven hard at work, the main fancy began making up ground on Intertheblack, but he could not go on with his run as Interblack kept finding to keep the favourite at bay by a length.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Lawrie Mayfield-Smith: “He’s had bad draws in his last couple of runs (draw 19 and draw 12) and this one (11) wasn’t all great so we had to go back to last and ride for luck, you know. He’s got a devastating sprint on him. You know even Les Green, the clocker, said he hasn’t clocked many horses that can sprint like him. He works like a Stradbroke horse.

“He is a genuine horse. He is probably one of the best horses in the stable. He has just had no luck. He can’t handle the wet and the penny hasn’t dropped yet. We’ll just poke along. We’ll try and educate him. Just like his trainer he is a slow learner. He can do a lot of things wrong, like he gets out on a limb sometimes and just won’t settle. But he goes good for Mitch (Speers). For a lot of people he pulls but he settles for Mitch real nice. As I said to Mitch the main thing is to give him room in the straight. I said go back and ride for luck and he’ll sprint better than anything in this field.”

Apprentice jockey Mitchell Speers: “We were always going to ride him for luck. He doesn’t mind going in-between them and all the runs came. He’s got a good turn of foot, so that helps.”

This was Lawrie Mayfield-Smith’s fourth winner in the last three meetings. It was Mitchell Speers’ first second Metropolitan winner and his first at a Saturday meeting.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Intertheblack): 5.00 out to 5.50.
Favourite (Deception Bay): 3.80 out to 4.20. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Intertheblack (M. Speers) jumped away awkwardly and missed the start. Deception Bay (S. Scriven) and Shifteman (B. Pengelly) came together at the start. Innersphere (B. El-Issa) jumped in at the start and made contact with Spanish Kiss (K. Forrester). Near the 800m Millers Wheel (S. Katsidis) was cramped when racing in restricted room between Savannah La Mar (D. Griffin) and Deception Bay, which was taken in momentarily by Spanish Kiss. Deception Bay and Spanish Kiss raced wide for the entire event. Medesano (J. Byrne) raced awkwardly rounding the home turn on the heels of Surety (M. Cahill). Savannah La Mar and Tocapitalize (L. Rolls) were held up in the early stages of the straight. Innersphere was inclined to lay in rounding the home turn and in the early stages of the straight. On straightening Shifteman was held up for clear running until near the 200m. Near the 100m Medesano, which was inclined to shift ground, had to be eased away from the heels of Desert Hayil (A. Pattillo).