DOOM NOV 18 - EXTRA GROUND SUITS ARABIAN SEA

By Graham Potter | Friday, November 20, 2009

Doomben, November 18, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 4.9m.
Maiden Plate (Set Weights) - 2070m. Time: 2-09.15
1 Arabian Sea; 2 Ms Mickdandee; 3 Potters Cay.

The Jamie Nielson trained Arabian Sea showed natural improvement second-up to earn a hard-fought victory by a half-head from Ms Mickdandee with the main fancy Potters Cay only a short-head back in third spot.

Jockey Jim Byrne settled Arabian Sea in second spot early, happy to track the front-running Ms Mickdandee to the turn. Byrne pushed Arabian Sea forward to challenge for the lead immediately on straightening while the main fancy Potters Cay, who was revved up in the sweep to the turn, also made good ground from behind out wide to loom into contention.

Miss Mickdandee was no pushover though. The mare kicked on with meaning and showed stubborn resistance as Arabian Sea and Potters Cay tried to run her down. Both chasers stuck to their task and it took Arabian Sea the whole length of the straight to tame Ms Mickdandee to claim a narrow victory - her first in nine starts.

The favourite Potters Cay also battled all the way. She did come from further back than the first two and was easily the widest of the contenders on the turn but, essentially, she had every chance but came up short of a cigar.

WINNERS FEEDBACK:
Trainer Jamie Nielson: “We’ve got her over a bit of distance, you know. It’s only her second run in. She hadn’t had a run for six … or five weeks prior to her first start up here on Melbourne Cup day. She was in need of that badly. She seems to be improving. She did fight on well, which is good.

“Patinack just brought her up here to get her over a bit of ground in a bit of easier company. We’ll try and find another one over that sort of distance and see if she can improve again, which we believe she will as that was only her second run. She went straight from 1800 to 2000 for us, so she might have a bit of a future over distance.”

Jockey Jim Byrne: “Yeah, sometimes they make you work for it a little bit harder than others. It was a good run the other day (when finishing fourth over 1800m). They said the horse needed the run then and he’s going to take improvement out of that one today as well.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Arabian Sea): 11.00 out to 12.00 in to 11.00.
Favourite (Potters Cay): 3.70 out to 3.80. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Ecclesia (J. Wood), which was a little slow to begin, had to be checked shortly after the start when tightened for room between Flying Touchdown (L. Cassidy) and No Hurry (R. Wiggins), which was taken in by Foreign Lass (S. Katsidis). Arabian Sea (J. Byrne) raced three wide in the early stages of the event.

M. Cahill, rider of Potters Cay, reported that the horse failed to show its customary early speed, however he was satisfied with the way the mare travelled during the race. Trainer B. Baldwin reported that with the removal of blinkers the horse raced a little further back than he had anticipated.

S. Katsidis, rider of Foreign Lass, explained that leaving the 800m he considered moving the horse wider on the track, however felt he would have had difficulty in doing so due to Potters Cay racing tight to his outside.

He further explained that the horse was disappointed for a run on entering the home straight between Ecclesia (J. Wood) and No Hurry, and was again disappointed for clear running approaching the 200m when attempting to take a run between Flying Touchdown and Wicked Whispers. S. Katsidis added that, in his opinion, the horse would have finished closer if afforded clear running in the straight.

Nielsen