EF FEB 27 - SEEN IM SCORES ONE FOR BEAUDESERT

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Eagle Farm, February 27, 2010.
Track - Slow 6. Rail - out 3m.
NMW Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-12.12. (Carrying 53,5kg).
1 Seen Im; 2 General Secretary; 3 Bazzooka.

Score one for Beaudesert!

Beaudesert based trainer Sandra Mccormack brought Seen Im to Eagle Farm on Saturday and went home with a winner after the six-year-old outgunned his opposition to claim the ninth win of his career.

Mccormack’s confidence in raising the bar after the gelding had gone down narrowly over 1200m at Lismore in his last start proved to be entirely justified. He jumped well and made light work of overcoming what could have been an awkward draw.

Jockey Jason Taylor positioned Seen Im in a close-up second place early, hard on the heels of the front-running Bazzooka, who had tracked over from a wide barrier. In the sweep to the turn, Taylor just eased his mount forward a touch to apply some early pressure to Bazzooka and these two runners raced side by side as they brought the field into the home straight.

Bazzooka and Seen Im continued to match strides in the early part of the straight. The only other runner to threaten the result was General Secretary, who switched out around the heels of the leaders to move into contention.

With Bazzooka fighting every inch of the way and General Secretary’s looming presence of his outside, Taylor asked Seen Im for his final effort and the gelding’s response was good enough to see off his only two dangers as he edged away from Bazzooka and held off the effort of General Secretary. The winning margin was 1.30 lengths.

Five out of Seen Im’s nine victories have come in wet track conditions.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Sandra Mccormack: “That was great. That was just wonderful.

“I used to work for Pat Quinn who was an absolutely wonderful man. He’s up there now. I said to Gail, his wife, if ever you a horse that is good enough for up here ... could you get Mark to send one up.

“I went and had a back operation six weeks ago and Mark rung up and said, I’ve got a horse here for you. So, he sent this one up to us and we bought him off.

“I’ve only been training for a couple of years. I’ve trained three winners now ... but we’ve only got a couple of horses in. We’re very small, so winning in the city is just great and with the horse having a connection to Pat makes it all the more special.

“This one’s for you Pat!”

Jockey Jason Taylor: “You know I’ve been told for the last probably week and a half that this horse has been absolutely flying. I ride a few horses from Beaudesert. I few people that have been linked with the horse have been saying that the horse has been going absolutely fantastic and the report from the trainer was that the horse was flying.

“It doesn’t mind the softish track ... the horse actually has fantastic wet track form, so when we got the rain through the day the confidence was slowly building.

“The horse began quite well and it put itself in a forward position. He seemed to get through the going really well and just kept running and kicked on strong. It doesn’t mind a few showers. I think the horse was out there doing his own little rain-dance before the day started.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Seen Im): 26.00 steady.
Favourite (Elusive Port): 4.20 out to 5.00 in to 4.40. Finished seventh.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
The track was downgraded to Slow 6 prior to the running of Race 7.

Start Thinkin' (Matthew Palmer), Beautiful Day (R. Wiggins) and Wollombi Road (R. Thompson) were slow to jump.

Near the 1100m One-Eyed (O. Turpin) had to be steadied to avoid the heels of Bazzooka (L. Rolls), which shifted in when not fully clear.

Approaching the 1000m Grandiva (B. Stewart) had to be checked when tightened for room by Reizarb (A. Spinks), which shifted in despite the efforts of its rider. In the circumstances, stewards took no direct action, however reminded A. Spinks that he must make every endeavour to ensure that runners to his inside are provided the racing room to which they are entitled.

Apprentice L. Rolls, the rider of Bazzooka, pleaded guilty to a charge of careless riding under AR. 137(a), in that near the 1000m he permitted his mount to shift in when insufficiently clear of Seen Im (J. Taylor), resulting in that horse being taken in on to More On The Toe (J. Holder), which was in turn taken in on to Innocenttassie (J. Wood) which had to be checked when tightened for room between More On The Toe and Mohawk (G. Lynch).

Apprentice Rolls' licence to ride in races was suspended for a period of 7 meetings, with the term of suspension to commence at midnight on Wednesday, 10 March, and expire at midnight on Sunday, 21 March 2010. In assessing penalty stewards were mindful that L. Rolls was commencing a suspension of 7 meetings from 27.2.10 to 10.3.10, incurred at Eagle Farm on Wednesday, 24.2.10, and ordered that L. Rolls be eligible to resume riding on 22 March 2010.

Snorkel (M. Speers), Innocenttassie and Wollombi Road raced wide throughout. Elusive Port (B. Pengelly) raced extremely wide throughout.

Leaving the 200m Reizarb (A. Spinks) was disappointed for a run between Elusive Port and Snorkel, which shifted out slightly. Beautiful Day was unable to procure clear running inside the final 100m.

Following the running of Race 7, the track was downgraded to Slow 7.