DOOM MAY 29 - TOO HOT TO HANDLE

By Graham Potter and Matthew Grimson | Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Doomben, May 29, 2010.
Doomben 10,000 (Group 1 - WFA) - 1350m.
Time: 1-19.17. (Carrying 57kg).
Track - Slow 6. Rail - True.
1 Hot Danish; 2 Whobegotyou; 3 Melito.

Fourteen wins from twenty-five starts with just under $2 million banked in stake earnings ... that is the proud record of the 2010 Doomben 10,000 winner Hot Danish.

The Les Bridge trained mare only succeeded for the first time at the top level in her previous start in Sydney when winning the Group 1 All Aged at Randwick, but that was one of those statistics in sport where the record was always going to be set straight sooner or later.

Like so many similar examples in the sporting world, once the breakthrough win was achieved, the second top flight victory followed hard on the heels of the first with the Doomben 10,000 success meaning that Hot Danish will be lining up for a hat-trick of wins when she next faces the starter.

Making the current scenario all the more satisfying is the fact that Hot Danish life hung in the balance earlier in her career after an infection took hold in an injury she had suffered.

Life-saving surgery was undertaken with the hope of saving her as a broodmare. Her recovery and the fact that she has gone on to fulfil her promise on the racetrack is nothing short of miraculous.

Hot Danish jumped well enough, but didn't join the speed battle up front as several runners vied for a forward position early. King Mufhasa won the keen chase for the early lead to show the way marginally ahead of Carrara and Paprika (who held the rail position). Mic Mac was also right up there holding fourth place ahead of Shellscrape, while jockey Tim Clark had Hot Danish in sixth place on the rail, just three lengths off the lead.

At that stage Melito raced in the second half of the field some two-and-a-half lengths behind Hot Danish. Melitio had Ortensia a length back on her outside and Ortensia, in turn, was being tracked by Whobegotyou.

The leaders pretty much held station until the turn where King Mufhasa, who cornered four wide, held a arrow advantage over Paprika, who was still hugging the rail.

The gap between these two runners was an inviting one. Mic Mac was best placed to take full advantage of the offer, but he was quickly joined on his inside by Hot Danish who moved easily into contention as the likes of Carrara and Shellscrape started to feel the pressure.

Ortensia and Whobegotyou were some seven lengths off the action at that stage and they were doing each other no favours by leaning on each other as they turned for home as the two widest runners on the track. The task facing them in the straight would be a stern test of their quality.

Paprika was the next to cry enough. She folded badly at the 250m mark, just as Hot Danish surged forward to take on King Mufhasa at the head of affairs.

That very quickly became an unequal battle as Hot Danish continued her run and her acceleration carried her into a clear lead away from the tiring King Mufhasa with 180m left to run.

A hard-ridden Black Piranha threatened briefly along the inside. Mic Mac continued to fight on. Melito staged a late charge down the centre of the track while Whobegotyou was finished strongly out wide on the track, but Hot Danish had them all stone cold in the concluding stages and her victory margin was a comfortable 1.30 lengths.

Whobegotyou's big run from behind earned him second place. The ever-consistent Melito got third. The improved Black Piranha finished fourth. Mic Mac was fifth ... as only 0.50 lengths separated the horses finishing from second place to fifth place.

WINNER FEEDBACK
Trainer Les Bridge: “How far would she have won a dry track? That will do. We’ll take it.

"I was a little bit worried that she got so far back. But then coming to the turn I could see she was just absolutely in cruise control. She is a great mare. I might need something like this to keep me going too.

“That's back to back Group 1 wins now. She took a while getting there but, gee whiz, she ran in five Group 1 races on Heavy 8 and Heavy 10 tracks and I suspect that she struggles at the mile under those conditions. Finally ... I am a bit of a slow learner, I worked out she’s just a sprinter and that is what we've been doing.

“This period in my life I have had a few setbacks lately, I think I have got more enjoyment out of this horse than any horse I have ever had. There isn’t a tear today but there was the other day in the All-Age. She’s just a marvellous mare.

“She had a very bad injury. I watched her undergo two-and-a-half, three hours of surgery to her hind leg. They took a piece of the sesamoid out the size of a ten cent piece ... and then she got an infection in the tendon sheath.

"Their main concern then was to save her as a broodmare ... and here she is today. The people at Randwick Equine were just marvellous to save her ... and then she had the Equine Influenza. So she had a year out ... so she got a good record for a mare who spent a year out of racing.

"No, we'll just stick to weight-for-age races with her, that’s all. She’s going home on Tuesday, only put her in the one race here.

"He's learning that Timmy (jockey Tim Clark). He’s listening to me now and he is starting to pick it up. He’s a good kid.

"I was a little bit worried today about the track. I had a chat to Timmy and he said it was just about the borderline and he thought she might get through it and she did. He’s a good kid, Timmy, and he is on his way to being a real top flight jockey.

"I think Sir Dapper was the best horse I've trained, but she is pressing him ... she is pressing him.

Jockey Tim Clark: "She is a beauty. Never let's us down. Even in defeat she always tries hard.

"She had a soft draw today and got a nice run. She began well. It took her about fifty yards to get right into stride. After that I travelled well behind Paprika. I was sort of glad he held the leader out so I was only behind one horse.

"She really sprinted quick at the furlong when I asked her. I wanted to wait as long as I could before I asked her. I was hoping that she would be able to sprint and sort of get a gap on them and hold them off late and that's exactly what she did. I got a nice break on them and she was strong to the line.

"She did surprise me how quickly she sprinted though. She normally doesn't have that acceleration in the wet. When she sprinted like that I thought they would struggle to pick her up.

"She didn't get through the ground too bad today. The track is holding together quite well. She was able to get her foot in which was sort of the main thing. She doesn't like it when she is sort of slipping on it a bit. She was able to get her feet in today and she has done a great job.

"She finally broke through to win a Group 1 in Sydney. Now it's two in a row. It's great. You know before that everyone was saying she was a Group 1 mare, but she hadn't won one yet, so it was good for her to get that monkey off her back in Sydney. It was a big relief.

"That's my third Group 1 win ... the two with Hot Danish and I won the Galaxy on Typhoon Zed a couple of years back.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Hot Danish): 4.80 out to 5.50. Equal favourite).
Equal favourite (Melito): 6.00 in to 5.50. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Ghetto Blaster (C. Newitt) over-raced in the early stages.

For some distance after passing the 1100m, Phelan Ready (S. Katsidis), when over-racing, had to be steadied to avoid the heels of Mic Mac (S. Scriven).

At the entrance to the straight, Ortensia (H. Bowman) momentarily became unbalanced when tightened for room by News Alert (M. Walker), which after initially being taken out by Shellscrape (L. Cassidy), shifted out. Stewards advised M. Walker, rider of News Alert, to make greater effort to keep his mounts on a straight course in future.

In the early part of the straight, Black Piranha (T. Angland) was held up for clear running behind the heels of Hot Danish (T. Clark).

Whobegotyou (M. Rodd) was inclined to lay in when placed under pressure over the final 300m. Near the 250m, Melito (B. Shinn) shifted to the inside of the heels of Carrara to improve and made contact with Phelan Ready (S. Katsidis).

Carrara (D. Nikolic) raced three wide without cover throughout the race.

Whobegotyou (M. Rodd) raced extremely wide throughout. Shellscrape (L. Cassidy), News Alert, Ortensia and Russeting raced wide throughout.

G. Colless reported that Paprika over-raced in the early and middle stages, which contributed to the filly compounding in the home straight.

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