DOOM AUG 21 - THREE-IN-A-ROW FOR AL MAZAYA

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 26, 2010

Doomben, August 21, 2010.
Track - Slow 6. Rail - out 4m. Penetrometer - 5.25.
1MW Handicap - 1615m.
Time: 1-38.35. (Carrying 53kg).
1 Al Mazaya; 2 Slick Sniper; 3 Mambo Flyer.

Al Mazaya is thriving!

The Michael Jacobs trained runner scored only two wins in his first seventeen starts, but he has now added a hat-trick on to the end of that statistic to make it five wins from twenty starts, including two city victories which underlines the quality of his new found level of performance.

Al Mazaya’s hat-trick sequence (which was successfully completed in a twenty-nine day blitz) began in a Class 2 event at his home track at the Sunshine Coast on July 25 where he defeated Golden Jaguar by 1.50 lengths over 1400m.

The manner in which Al Mazaya’s achieved victory there gave Jacobs the confidence to bring the son of Dubai Destination to town for his first start as a four-year-old where he again proved to be too good for his opposition under the steadying burden of 58kg. The margin of victory this time was a long neck. The distance was again 1400m.

On Saturday at Doomben, after the same two week break he enjoyed between his two previous victories, Al Mazaya stepped out to face the starter with a third successive win as his mission. The distance test had been stepped up to 1615m, but the entire had a fair draw and the services of jockey Eddie Wilkinson, who had ridden him to perfection last time out.

Mambo Flyer set a lively gallop from the break and Amazing Dane and Al Mazaya went with the mare as the three leaders opened up a sizable four length gap on the chasing pack in the back straight.

Mambo Flyer led Amazing Dane by a length for much of the back stretch with Al Mazaya settling a further length behind the second placed horse as Wilkinson kept a watching brief on the tempo being set ahead of him.

Mambo Flyer was given a breather mid-race and the field closed order in the sweep to the turn, but battle was resumed with full intensity in the approach to the home turn where Mambo Flyer kicked again.

Amazing Dane felt the pinch at that point and Wilkinson angled Al Mazaya for a run inside that runner so that he straightened in second spot with the frontrunner clearly in his sights.

As Amazing Dane fell away, Moncalieri (who as saving ground on the inside) and the top weight Slick Sniper (out four wide) were two others to move into contention.

Al Mazaya’s response to the cool riding of Wilkinson was sure. He slowly but surely reeled in the game Mambo Flyer to take the lead with 100m left to run, but Al Mazaya himself was now under severe pressure from Slick Sniper on his outside.

Moncalieri was also running on, but not doing enough to have a major say and it came down to a race in two over the concluding stages as Al Mazaya pulled out all the stops to ward off the persistent challenge of Slick Sniper to win by a short-neck margin.

Mambo Flyer’s reward was third place. Moncalieri finished fourth.

This win took Al Mazaya’s earnings through the $100 000 mark.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Michael Jacobs: “I wish I could improve as much as the horse has done in the last month.

“I think the reasonable tempo helped us today. I was obviously hoping for a reasonable tempo because I didn’t think he could outsprint some of the others in the field.

“Eddie (Wilkinson) gets him out well. He gets him into a position early. He does everything right on him. He rides him really well.”

Jockey Eddie Wilkinson: “Yeah, he was under threat from the 200m, but every time the other horse came at him he put his head down and had a go and he had the other horse covered at the line, so it was a very gutsy win.

“I know he has been a lot of hard work, the horse. They’ve done a lot of work with him. He settled down and he’s racing really well. All credit to Michael (Jacobs).”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Al Mazaya): 5.00 out to 6.50.
Favourite (Slick Sniper): 3.50 out to 4.00. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Permission was granted for apprentice A. Butler to claim 2.5 kilograms of his 3 kilogram allowance. Subsequently, A. Butler was fined $200.

Near the 1400m, Slick Sniper (T. Bell) over-raced for a short distance and got its head in the air.

Amazing Dane (C. McIver) raced wide in the early stages.

Mambo Flyer (R. Wiggins) and Adamon (C. Munce) over-raced throughout the middle stages.

Leaving the 800m, My Counsel (B. El-Issa) improved between Adamon and Kinsmate (P. Hammersley) where there was insufficient room and struck the heels of Kinsmate and faltered.

After leaving the 300m, My Counsel (B. El-Issa) shifted out, taking Kinsmate (P. Hammersley) out on to Iguazu (J. Byrne).

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