EF DEC 02 - BAGMAN GETS THE MONEY

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Thursday, December 3, 2009

Eagle Farm, December 2, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 11.5m.
Maiden Handicap (3yo C, G & E) - 1400m. Time: 1-25.31.
1 Bagman; 2 Maraeti; 3 Western Run.

The Rochelle Pereira trained Bagman had put punters on notice with a long-neck second placing to Stallone at Doomben last time and the gelding duly went one better under a determined ride from jockey Ric McMahon.

McMahon took the three-year-old back from his wide draw and Bagman race in second last place early on and in the initial sweep to the turn as the leaders raced at a moderate tempo.

Bagman’s challenge took on more urgency as the field approached the home turn. McMahon revved the engine and asked Bagman to fire up as he angled the gelding to the outside to find the galloping room in which to launch his challenge.

Once he had daylight in front of him, Bagman warmed to his task and he quickly chased into contention, but the task didn’t get any easier in the second half of the straight. By the 200m mark there were four runners stretched across the track.

The early leader Haslington, racing along the inside, was the first to weaken. Western Run stayed on better than that, but he too lost started to falter under pressure and it was left to the two outside runners Maraetai and Bagman to fight out the finish with the latter coming home the stronger of the two to earn a well-deserved win.

Bagman’s win gave jockey Ric McMahon his first Metropolitan win since the rider’s returned from Singapore.

WINNER FEEDBACK
Trainer Rochelle Pereira: “Real good run last time. He did a lot wrong. He wanted to hang out going around the corner and then he wanted lay-in in the straight. We were confident he would take a lot from that run and improve for today’s run.

“He stepped up to the 1400 today. He probably will get to a mile, but not this time in. He is a bit immature and a bit light.”

Jockey Ric McMahon: “It is my first metro winner since I got back from Singapore. It’s been a long time coming. Sort of haven’t had a lot of good chances at all actually, to be honest. They’ve been very average since I’ve been back.

“My weights been a bit funny too, so I have been going to the Gold Coast on a Saturday. It makes it harder when you are riding down there to get the good rides in town. But it is just good to rebuild and sort of get my weight down and then I will go come back to town for sure.

“Just easing back into it. When I went over there my weight got pretty bad and it’s been fluctuating since I’ve been back, so I am still working pretty hard and just trying to keep my weight down, you know.

“The horse ... he’s a lovely little horse actually. He is just learning with every race. He did a lot wrong last start. He wanted to hang out around the turn and then hang in really bad down the run. He still hung in really bad down the run, but he’s learnt a lot since his last run. He’s a horse that will go through his grades.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Bagman): 4.60 out to 5.00 in to 4.20.
Favourite (Haslington): 2.80 out to 3.00 in to 2.90. Finished fourth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Western Run (N. Evans) was slow to begin. Maraetai (P. Hammersley) was tightened on jumping away between Haslington (App L. Rolls) and Speedometer (B. Pengelly), which shifted in. Fidakat (A. Spinks) over-raced in the early and middle stages of the event.

Leaving the 800m Maraetai had to be steadied off the heels of Fidakat when that horse was over-racing and as a result Maraetai shifted in and bumped Royal Brat (R. Wiggins). Western Run was caught racing wide for the majority of the event.

Pereira