DOOM FEB 17 - JO MICK SCORES GRINDING WIN

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Thursday, February 18, 2010

Doomben, February 17, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - out 7.5m.
Maiden Handicap (3yo and up) - 1030m. Time: 1-01.50. (Carrying 58kg).
1 Jo Mick; 2 Cerulean Blue; 3 Queenofbeaudesert.

Trainer Kelly Schweida is seldom without a winner at a meeting these days and he was quickly off the mark here taking out the opening race on the card with Jo Mick.

The chestnut was having only his second race start (he finished in third place on debut) and while he scored what in essence was a grinding win, the pleasing aspect was the way he stuck to his task under pressure in going which ultimately might be shown to be not to his liking. With more race experience behind him and on a firmer track, the lightly raced four-year-old should only get better.

Queenofbeaudesert landed in the lead, but jockey Shane Scriven railed up on Jo Mick to keep that one out and take a narrow lead into the first turn. When Queenofbeaudesert glued to his outside and Cerulean Blue keeping a watching brief close-up behind in third spot, Jo Mick pulled the field along to the turn.

Scriven continued to rate his mount well early in the straight. He got more urgent in the saddle when Queenofbeaudesert refused to go away and Cerulean Blue kept chasing and Jo Mick kept responding to the rider’s urgings, not with any flash of acceleration but rather with just a solid, sustained effort to the line which, in the end, neither Cerulean Blue (who got within a half-neck of the winner in second place) nor Queenofbeaudesert (whose labours were rewarded with third place) could match.

The fact that the first six runners out of a field of eight finished bunched up all within 1.60 lengths of each other puts a question mark against the level of form that this race might project, but all you can do is win your race, so credit must go to Jo Mick for doing that.

WINNER FEEDBACK
Trainer Kelly Schweida: “He’s just so big, you can’t give him two weeks off. He’s out of a Rory’s Jester mare, and he’s so big. He’s a big boy ... a big boy. He’s wider than he is big.

“I would be surprised if Shane (Scriven) said he handled it (the going), because he was floundering here, I think. He just can’t go three weeks between runs. We were going to go to Caloundra on Sunday but we left that.

“I think you will see a different horse when it is dry, I really do. I know he goes a lot better on the dry tracks because of his jump outs and that.”

Jockey Shane Scriven: “He’s got a future, you know. He’s a big boy for only his second start in a race. He’ll learn a lot from it. Probably not at home on the wet track today either, you know, you might find a different horse on the dry. He’s got some future.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Jo Mick): 3.20 in to 2.10.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Embraer (M. Speers) jumped away awkwardly, shifted out and brushed Star Forward (S. Bogenhuber). Dalingi (J. Wood) also jumped away awkwardly.

Embraer raced greenly in the early stages and after passing the 800m had to be restrained to avoid the heels of Star Forward.

Apprentices J. Wood (Dalingi) and S. Bogenhuber (Star Forward) were both reminded of their obligation under the rules to ride their mounts out to the end of the race.

A post-race veterinary examination of Embraer revealed that the gelding had a deep laceration to its tongue.