BRC AUG 08 - BIG FINISH GETS DEACON HOME

By Graham Potter | Monday, August 10, 2009

The David Murphy stable has been on a roll lately and Deacon kept that winning momentum going when he outgunned the top weight In Rehearsal to score his second win in his last three starts.

It was a big finish by the six-year-old son of Zabeel, who had settled last in the early part. Deacon had plenty of work in front of him when the field straightened, but the gelding produced race-winning acceleration between the 250m and 150m which carried him into the lead. He then also showed good commitment when fighting on under fire as In Rehearsal refused to go away and tested the winner all of the way to the line.

Eagle Farm, Saturday, August 8, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - True.
Open Handicap - 1800m. Time: 1-50.33.
1st - Deacon; 2nd - In Rehearsal; 3rd - La Zeel.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer David Murphy: “That’s how he’s got to be ridden. He has got to be ridden cold. When there is a bit of pace on he wins ... if there’s not, he gets beat. Last year we took him down south, but I’ve got no plans to do that again. We’ve got some nice races over summer time in Queensland now ... the Summer Series and those sort of things. We’ll head him for those. I think he raced like he was a bit tired today. He went quick, but then he should have won by more. I think that’s his eleven run this time in so I’ll probably give his a rest now. Probably give him a month off.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “I’ve watched the horse run a lot of times. It’s always started in the market so obviously they’ve always thought something of it. It was nice to get a ride on him late in the piece and win on him, because he’s likely to go for a spell now. I think he got a few of those bog tracks while the Carnival was on too ... and obviously that takes its toll.

“I think he was probably a bit of a victim last week in a slowly run race. (Trainer) David (Murphy) said they just needed to run along. He said if there was speed in the race he would find the line strongly, which he did! I was always confident of running In Rehearsal down.

“I gave myself a couple of options from the 800m. I stayed one off, to give myself the option to come out. When I knew that wasn’t going to work, I came back in and got a nice cart up. Obviously I had the horse underneath me to do it. The horse was too well trained by David.

“He was still giving all the way to the line. If we’d gone a little bit further he would have got away another half-a-length probably. All honours to David (Murphy. He backed him up after last week ... back in distance and the horse found the line really strong. Geez, he can dash, hey. I mean they were getting to the line hard and he beat them. It was like his feet were going too fast for him.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Deacon): 2.70 out to 3.10.
Favourite (Kelly): 2.30 out to 2.50. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
La Zeel (S. Katsidis) over-raced and refused to settle in the middle stages.

Stewards sought an explanation from apprentice M. Hellyer in regards to the tactics he employed on Nevada Gambler today by which he took up a forward position which is in contrast to its normal racing pattern. M. Hellyer stated that he had been instructed to position the gelding where it was comfortable and given the distinct lack of pace in the race he felt it best, when the gelding began well, to take up a handy position. Stewards accepted his explanation.