DOOM SEPT 16 - MARGARET WINS WITH EASE

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Friday, September 18, 2009

Doomben, September 16, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1.5m
3yo Maiden Plate (Set weights) - 1350m. Time: 1-19.90.
1 Margaret; 2 Our Charmaine; 3 Femme Feroce.

Trainer Lawrie Mayfield-Smith kept up his terrific strike-rate when the lightly raced three-year-old Margaret scored an untroubled win in the opening race on the card.

The filly kicked away early in the straight under a positive ride from jockey Larry Cassidy. No other runner could go with her and she strode on opposed to score by a comfortable 2.30 length margin in only her second career start.

Margaret had finished a creditable third on debut three weeks earlier when just a length off the winner and this performance was a natural progression, given the benefit of having her first run behind her.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Lawrie Mayfield-Smith: “We got it from New Zealand. It was going to Singapore and they pulled the pin on it, you know. It was a bit like Shady Prospect (another of Mayfield-Smith’s horses who was due to leave Australia, but stayed). They just went off it.

“The run the other day was too short for her and on top of that she could have nearly won it but they crawled early, you know ... absolutely crawled. It was a shocking race and she was up there pulling.

“I didn’t really want Larry (Cassidy) to go to the front, no. He said to me I might have to lead. I said you know what you’re doing, just do what you want to do, you know. But I would like her to settle later on because I believe she’ll stay. I will probably try to work her up to the mile and then tip her out and bring her back for winter. I’m not saying she’s a winter carnival horse, but there are plenty of fillies and mares Class 6’s, or whatever. It could be a class 3 at Ipswich.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “Yeah look, she’s a real nice filly. You know, she was just being a bit fidgety in the gates and I sort of pushed her out a bit hard and she got running. She got running ... I should have got her to relax, it would have been nice if she’d come back a tad more underneath me. But she goes very well. She was laying out there in the straight, but that was more through greenness than anything.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Money In Hand (M. Cahill) jumped away awkwardly and lost ground. Croft’s Quest (M. Hellyer) was slow to begin.

When questioned regarding the performance of Grand Homme, D. Browne stated that, in his opinion, the gelding was not suited by the tempo of the race in the first 600m when racing back in the field. He added that he attempted to improve his position from the 800m, however at the same stage the pace of the race increased. D. Browne further added that the gelding had a tendency to lay out in the middle stages and exhibited a tendency to lay in the straight, and, in his opinion, was still learning how to race. A post-race veterinary examination of Grand Homme revealed the gelding to be exhibiting mucous in both nostrils. Trainer R. Heathcote was advised that he would be required to produce the results of an endoscopic examination on Grand Homme prior to its next race start.

When questioned as to his riding in the early stages on Femme Feroce, G. Colless stated that he had been instructed by the trainer to ride the filly back off the pace if it was possible. He said at its last run, Femme Feroce it had not closed the race off as had been hoped, and the indication was to ride the horse today in a manner which would enable it to finish better than last time. Mr A. Bailey, trainer of Femme Feroce, confirmed the instructions given and was satisfied with the manner in which the horse had been ridden, even allowing for the slow pace in the early stages of today's race. Mr Bailey did go on to say that had Femme Feroce been made more use of in the early stages it would not have performed as well as it did. The explanations tendered by G. Colless and Mr Bailey were accepted.