DOOM MAY 29 - FIREBOLT FLATTENS OPPOSITION

By Graham Potter and Matthew Grimson | Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Doomben, May 29, 2010.
2MW Last Year Handicap - 1630m.
Time: 1-37.22. (Carrying 53kg).
Track - Slow 6. Rail - True.
1 Firebolt; 2 Guderian; 3 Pepperwood.

Trainer Roger James kicked off his Queensland Winter campaign with a runaway success in the opening event on the Doomben 10,000 card when Firebolt easily outgunned his opposition to win by a convincing 2.50 length margin.

It was a dominant display by Firebolt who was coming into the race on the back of two promising minor placed finishes in New Zealand.

The four-year-old jumped from the widest barrier and jockey Danny Nikolic powered the son of Stravinsky out of the gates as he looked to cross his field and take up a forward position. Hadeef, who also jumped from a wide barrier, exercised the same option and these two runners had sufficient gate speed to gain the early advantage.

After crossing the field Hadaaf led briefly, but the grey was quickly relieved of his favourite role when Nikolic allowed Firebolt to continue to role along and the James trained runner went to the lead with the minimum of fuss.

Firebolt settled into a good, strong rhythm down the back-straight where he led Hadaaf by two lengths with Guderian a similar distance back in third spot, racing inside of Regal Gaze. Pepperwood was in behind that with the balance of the field becoming well and truly strung out as Firebolt’s early, relentless gallop already took half of the field out of the equation.

There was only a slight let-up from the leader in the sweep to the turn. That ‘breather’ allowed Hadaaf to get within a length-and-a-quarter of Firebolt while Guderian and Regal Gaze closed up behind that, a couple of lengths ahead of Pepperwood.

The rest were nowhere … but any sniff of victory the closest chasers might have thought they had quickly evaporated once the field straightened and Nikolic gave Firebolt his head.

The gelding kicked away with meaning and left his rivals scrambling in his wake and the ‘no contest’ signs already went up early in the straight.

Firebolt was three lengths clear with 280m left to run and in cruise control.

Guderian fared best in the long chase to claim second 2.50 lengths behind the winner. Pepperwood kept grinding away to claim third place.

WINNER FEEDBACK
Trainer Roger James: “It’s interesting. I brought him over here for good tracks and maybe I had to bring him this far to realise that he handles a bad track.

"It was a good, positive ride from Danny (Nikolic). I went over a few of the options and I think he took a very good option and I think that was the winning of the race. On the point of the turn a few of the other horses were struggling a bit behind him.

"His work during the week had been enormous. I was concerned about the track. A lot of Stravinsky’s do handle the wet, but he is a big actioned horse and I know he is pretty smart on a good track and I didn’t know whether he would handle it today.

"It was a good strong gallop, wasn’t it? He does have quite a high cruising speed and, as I said, his work during the week was enormous. I said after he worked on Thursday morning if he races up to his work he wins, but then the rain became a factor and we drew the outside barrier so it sort of left me in a quandary.

"We put the nose-roll on for the first time. He’s been a goon. He’s thrown a race or two away. When you go for him he just sort of doesn't drop his head and go forward. He just, you know, almost comes back underneath you and it was first time the nose roll was on. He’s worked with it quite a lot. I thought it was just greenness and a young horse, but I was just starting to get frustrated after as many starts as he had so I resorted to a change in gear.

"A mile is, you know, they are Listed miles ... most of them (referring to upcoming races during the carnival). We’ll just step our way from here. We have started at a low level and we’ll just go one step at a time.

“I haven’t had the material to warrant coming over earlier. This horse has started it off well for us. It is fair to say the form is going to get stronger as we get going. Yeah, look, we'll just let the dust settle and work out where we go from here.

"He is at the stage where he is ready for a bit of pressure now, probably.

"The owners bred him. I trained the dam as well. The dam (Woodsong) was a Woodman filly. She was out of a Group 1 winner.

Jockey Danny Nikolic: "My instructions were to be positive out of the barriers and try and sit in the first half dozen, but probably not to lead.

“ He got across quite easily and he was just going to pull too hard sitting outside the leaders so I just let him float on and he really relaxed nicely along the back straight there. Had it pretty easy without anybody pressuring me too much and when I asked him to quicken into the top of the straight he put paid to them. He was just too good for them. He did really well.

"He had no weight on him today and, you know, he is a big strong horse, but I think the horse will get a mile-and-a-quarter, no problems. He’s got that nice action of a middle-distance staying horse. I think the way he beat those horses ... I know they are not top class horses, but he did beat them easily.

"Lovely horse. Big, strong, masculine horse. He’s got a good action. He is a bit better than this class."

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Firebolt): 7.00 out to 7.50 in to 7.00.
Favourite (Hadaaf) 4.60 out to 4.80 in to 4.60. Finished fifth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Upon arrival at the barriers, Rightson was kicked by another runner. Rightson was examined by the club's veterinary surgeon and cleared to start.

Fifteen Carat, which broke through the barriers prior to the start and travelled a short distance, was examined by the club's veterinary surgeon and cleared to start.

Rightson (L. Cassidy) was slow to begin. Pepperwood (M. Cahill) shifted out at the start, taking Little Stranger (T. Clark) out on to Shuffle The Cash (J. Byrne), which was hampered.

Shortly after, Shuffle The Cash had to checked to avoid the heels of Fifteen Carat (S. Katsidis), which shifted in slightly. S. Katsidis, rider of Fifteen Carat, was advised to exercise more care in similar circumstances.

Firebolt (D. Nikolic) over-raced in the early stages.

Mirrasalo (B. Shinn) was held up and unable to improve after passing the 600m until approaching the 400m.

Over the concluding stages, Little Stranger shifted in under pressure and brushed Fifteen Carat.

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