EF JAN 23 - POOR JUDGE ROMPS IN

By Graham Potter | Monday, January 25, 2010

Eagle Farm, January 23, 2010.
Track - Good 2. Rail - out 2.5m.
NMW Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-09.10. (Carrying 54.5kg).
1 Poor Judge; 2 King Of The Kongo; 3 Reizarb.

The Norm Hilton trained Poor Judge toyed with his opposition here.

Jockey Ron Goltz gave the gelding the run of the race, sitting in third just off the heels of the leading duo, Licence To Steal and Steal The Cash. Goltz then switched the four-year-old out three wide into daylight on the turn so that he could get a clear shot at the frontrunners whenever he decided to pull the trigger.

That moment came just inside the 200m mark. Poor Judge always had the Licence To Steal and Steal The Cash covered as he loped alongside them from the 350m to 200m marks, but he also had to shut out any possible threat from behind and he did that in explosive fashion, accelerating on cue when given the green light by Goltz to race away to a convincing victory.

The favourite King Of The Kongo going to be that threat coming from off the speed, but Goltz decisive move at the 200m meant that the grey would have to settle for second place. That was still an effort full of merit as King Of The Kongo had come from last ... from way out his ground ... to pass every runner but one in the run home.

Poor Judge has only been with Norm Hilton for four runs. He kicked off his campaign for the Hilton stable with a third place at Eagle Farm behind Drenalin. He then won two-in-a-row on the cushion track at Toowoomba (his home base) before coming out to complete the treble here.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Norm Hilton: “He is a good horse. That’s his third win in a row. He stepped up to 1200m today. I think 1200m is his go.

“Things went pretty much as I expected. When he landed in third I was pretty confident from there on. I thought he was a good thing then.

“We’ll probably find another race for him down here and we might think about the Weetwood for him. He seems to handle the cushion track well (he is already a multiple winner on the cushion track at Toowoomba – the home of the Weetwood) and, as you see, he races good on the grass as well."

Jockey Ron Goltz: “I was supremely confident. He ended up third, one off the fence. I just moved him to the outside so I wasn’t going to be blocked. Even inside the 200 I still had plenty there and he let down real nice.

“Yeah, I came to town so I could stick with the horse. Nice to know the judgement is still there.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Pure Judge): 4.80 in to 3.90 out to 4.00.
Favourite (King Of The Kongo): 3.80 out to 4.20 in to 3.80. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
King Of The Kongo (J. Wood), Bionic Rock (G. Lynch) and Telesto Warrior (B. Pengelly) were all slow to begin.

R. Wiggins, rider of Twigerre, reported that in the early stages of the straight his mount had a tendency to lay in, and after receiving contact to the hind quarters from Bionic Rock, his mount was then held up between Red Meshach (L. Cassidy) and Shudule Gee (L. Rolls), which resulted in him being unable to fully test his mount until near the 100m. A post race veterinary examination of Twigerre failed to reveal any abnormalities.

Telesto Warrior (B. Pengelly), when endeavouring to shift to the outside in the early stages of the straight, became awkwardly placed at the heels of Onion (J. Taylor) for a short distance. Dardan (D. Griffin) raced wide throughout.

Hilton