EF FEB 13 - THE JACKAL STRIKES AGAIN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, February 14, 2010

Eagle Farm, February 13, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1m.
Quality Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-09.14. (Carrying 59.5kg).
1 The Jackal; 2 Nuclear Medicine; 3 Ollie Vollie.

The Paul St Vincent trained The Jackal is a magnificent looking chestnut with his own particular bounding action which adds to the thrill of the spectacle when the gelding is in full flight.

He appears to lift his front feet higher than most of his rivals as he stretches his big, muscled frame out to try and gain the advantage in a race and when it all comes together, as it did for the thirteenth time in his career at Eagle Farm on Saturday, he really is a good advertisement for the beauty of the thoroughbred in action.

Looking For Lang found the lead early ahead of Nuclear Medicine before steadying the pace mid-race to the degree that the field remained very compact with little more than five lengths covering the nine runners from first to last in the sweep to the turn.

The Jackal jumped from the extreme outside draw and he remained trapped on the outside of runners as jockey Larry Cassidy let him let him lope along in sixth place in the early part. Cassidy pushed The Jackal up to fourth, still three wide on the turn and, when Nuclear Medicine went past Looking For Lang early in the straight and set sail for home, the chase was well and truly on.

Nuclear Medicine, a renowned wet-tracker, was handling the good going as well as anybody else and he kicked on resolutely halfway up the straight meaning that The Jackal, now in full chase mode, would have to come and get him if he was going to claim victory.

Nuclear Medicine was carrying 5kg less than The Jackal and the latter had to pick up his weight to stay in the contest, but he started to reel in the front-runner over the final 200m. It was a slow process though and it was only inside the final 50m that The Jackal finally took the measure of his game rival to get up to win by a neck.

Ollie Vollie, who was bidding for three straight wins, finished third. The gelding settled fourth early but was shuffled back along the rail after running on to heels with nowhere to go in the approach to the turn. He then also had to mark time early in the straight before only getting out with 180m to run, at which stage third place was always going to be the best result he could achieve. He finished off the race well.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Paul St Vincent: “He just never really got to travel the whole run did he? No I wasn’t surprised the way that he put in at the finish.

“You look at his record, when he got beat the last time he was at Eagle Farm, he got beat one length (by Black Prince). Then he broke 33 seconds in the George Moore (at Doomben) when he ran sixth (behind Burdekin Blues). So his times have been brilliant. He has been close, but he just hasn’t got there because he has sort of half wrecked it a little bit and done silly things.

“He’s just starting to get there. He is just starting to work up to where he has got to be. He’s got more to come. I think I’m just going to come back here ... bring him back in a fortnight for the Favelon (Quality Handicap over 1200m at Eagle Farm)”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “They really slowed up mid-race and it probably really helped me too. I sort of took the punt. I did have the feeling I was going to be caught three deep when I didn’t take him back out of the gates (from the extreme outside draw).

“It was a split second decision. I thought if I take him back ... I just didn’t think I had any chance. I did the right thing. Then, when they slowed up, I was able to get closer to the leaders doing no work. He was nice and balanced ... nice and relaxed. He was just too good for them really.

“He really lifted well. He lifted when he needed it most, especially under that big weight (59.5kg). He was just too classy for them.

“He (Paul St Vincent) has put the blinkers back on him. You know, he is an older horse now and it was a great move just to change things up a little bit. I suggested that they keep him to the 1200m. If he is in a quick run 1200 he is going to get back in the field off the bit and he will charge to the line.

“I won on this him around this time last year ... was it this race? I’m not certain. I know it was 1200m at Eagle Farm but yeah, he gave me the same feeling. Good horse.”

The race Cassidy was referring to was in fact the Falvelon Handicap - the race that trainer Paul St Vincent has earmarked as the gelding’s next mission as he goes in search of back-to-back wins in that feature event.

It is interesting to go back in time and revisit the comments made by St Vincent and Cassidy a year ago after The Jackal had scored in scintillating fashion in the 2009 version of the Falvelon Handicap.

It seems in some instances, the more things change, the more they stay the same!

HRO WINNER FEEDBACK ARCHIVE: (The Jackal - Falvelon Handicap, February 28, 1009).

Trainer Paul St Vincent: “There is only one bottom line. You know they say some horses grow a leg in the wet. He grows it in the dry.

“You know he’s just got to be on the top of the ground, otherwise he is no good. So that’s where we’ll go next. Wherever it is dry ... Sydney, here, doesn’t matter ... wherever there is a dry track ... back to the Ramornie (which he has won twice) ... it doesn’t matter. But he has just got to be on top of the ground. The right handicap race on the right track and he’s there.

I’ve just got to take it one race at a time. It wouldn’t matter if it was a Group 1 race and he was 3-1 on. If the track was wet, it is a waste of energy.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “That was so impressive. He could not have been more impressive. They say he can be difficult mid-race if the pace slows, and he got a bit difficult.

“So I’m back on the fence, and they said to give him a clear run in the straight. When I switched her about four out, he was dead set ready to go. Like I pushed him into second gear and I didn’t even have to go to third. It was unbelievable.

It was like he was pawing the ground underneath me. I can’t explain it. I can tell you ... I haven’t ridden a horse like that for a long time. The way he did it with the weight was amazing.

“He is a bit of a problem in the barriers. He reared up and he is just so big. He is such a big horse. It’s like ... it’s like three forty-four gallon drums tied together and you’re sitting on them ... and when they rear up, it’s very big and awkward.

“I have ridden him previously. I rode him in his third ever start in a Group 2 in Sydney. It was something like six runners and he finished fourth. He was still very immature then. I said he was a very good horse then. I never got another go at him till now.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (The Jackal): 4.00 out to 4.40 in to 4.20.
Favourite (Ollie Vollie): 3.30 out to 3.40 in to .00. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Another Takeover (J. Byrne) had to be steadied shortly after the start when tightened for room between Testimonial (B. Pengelly), which was taken in by Bitabiff (M. Speers), and Nuclear Medicine(G. Colless).

Ollie Vollie (T. Bell) jumped away awkwardly and bumped Cocktail Supreme (J. Taylor).

Near the 700m, Bitabiff (M. Speers) improved up on to the heels of Nuclear Medicine and when being steadied shifted out, making contact with The Jackal (L. Cassidy). At the same stage, Cocktail Supreme improved up on to the heels of Ollie Vollie, taking Another Takeover wider on the track.

T. Bell, rider of Ollie Vollie, stated it has been established recently that the horse needs to be held up for a late sprint. He said he followed The Jacakal in today's race but at about the 100m, when close to that horse's heels, was obliged to stop riding and straighten.

J. Byrne, rider of Another Takeover stated that he was awkwardly placed from about the 900m to the 300m but, in all the circumstances, he felt the run of the horse today was satisfactory and the reason for it not figuring in the finish was as a result of the way today's race was run.

More articles