POETIC DRAMA POUNCES LATE UNDER AN INCH PERFECT RIDE FROM JONES TO EARN HER FIFTH CAREER VICTORY

By Graham Potter | Saturday, September 28, 2024

A drift in the betting ... from already stretched odds of $18 to a starting price of $21 ... meant nothing to the six-year-old chestnut mare Poetic Drama, who just about her business as usual turning in a tough, first-up performance that was too much for her opposition to handle as she secured victory by a 0.20 length margin in a Class 6 Handicap over 1300m at Toowoomba on September 28, the result being a nice appetiser to the Toowoomba Cup later in the day, which the Tony and Maddysen Sears training partnership was also able to land later with Red Wave.

Two of Poetic Drama’s last three starts before being spelled had come in Listed Silk Stocking ... (in which the daughter of Not A Single Doubt finished second to the Chris Waller trained Thalassophile, who would go on to finish third in both the Tatts Gold Crown and the Grafton Cup) ... and in the Group 3 $200 000 Drinkwise Mile in which Poetic Drama finished unplaced.

In spite of not troubling the scorer in that last mentioned run, those two runs contained enough merit to put Poetic Drama on the radar here, in what really presented as a open race with only one runner, the John Dann trained Quothquan, at $2.90, being quoted under the $3.80 mark.

Whether it is hindsight or not, Poetic Drama was clearly over the odds.

Back to 1300m from the mile first-up, Angela Jones, who is riding as well as anybody at this time, took over the reins of Poetic Drama for the first time, replacing regular rider Cejay Graham who had moved to the favourite Quothquan, and Jone’s initial brief was to plot a path from the widest barrier draw (nine out of nine) that would best serve Poetic Dram’s interests.

She did that by going back from the draw ... all the way to second last and more than seven lengths off the lead by the time the field had travelled 200m.

In spite of that deficit, Jones held station keeping Poetic Drama at a comfortable gallop, before asking the Sears trained runner to start a forward move in the sweep to the home turn. She did that, but her effective progress was tempered by the fact that she was covering extra ground out wide on the track.

That left Poetic Drama tracking out five wide and with four lengths to make up on straightening, with the $26 outsider Micro racing right in front of her.

It was then that Jones made what was arguably a race winning decision.

While most would have expected Jones to ease Poetic Drama to the outside of Micro, the talented rider instead had spotted an inside line which would quickly launch her mount into a gap and into contention if Poetic Drama was good enough to seize the opportunity.

It was a monster of a move, taken at full speed. With 150m left to run Poetic Drama was up to third place, now just over a length off Cloudland ($5), who was kicking on after taking over the lead at the top of the straight. Micro was also staying on gamely at the this stage and these were the two runners Poetic Drama still had to get to when the race came down to the final 100m.

With momentum on her side, Poetic Drama was up to second with 50m left to and closing on Cloudland. In that moment, it became a question of whether the post would come too soon for Poetic Drama to get the job done, but Jones’ judgment, which had been spot-on throughout, again carried the day as she urged Poetic Drama into the lead in the shadow of the post to claim an inch perfect victory.

All credit to Poetic Drama for being at one with Jones’ gameplan and this latest reward takes her race record to five wins and thirteen places from thirty-three starts with $320 560 banked in prize-money.

More articles