DOOM SEPT 18 - UPPER CLASS GIVES MORE EXPERIENCED RIVALS A TOUCH UP

By Graham Potter | Monday, September 20, 2010

Doomben, September 18, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3m. Penetrometer: 4.6.
2MW Handicap - 1200m.
Time: 1-09.77. Last 600m: 34.45. (Carrying 53kg).
1 Upper Class; 2 Carry The Clubs; 3 Jad.
Margins: Half-neck; Short-half-head.

The lightly raced four-year-old mare Upper Class showed she was intent on making up for lost time when she speared home to claim her third successive victory to keep her unbeaten record intact.

The daughter of Elusive City did not race as a two-year-old or a three-year-old, but when she stepped out for her first taste of action over 1200m at the Sunshine Coast on August 22, she immediately shed her maiden tag.

Trainer John Thompson then placed her in a Class 3 event in town at Doomben in midweek where she showed a superior turn of foot, coming from well back in the field to rattle home to beat Swift Sands by a length over the 1200m trip.

This time there was another step up in class to a Two Metro Win handicap, where Upper Class was asked to tackle older and vastly more experienced opposition.

The favourite Carry The Clubs was an eleven-time winner from twenty-six starts. Another Takeover was a six-time winner from thirty-five starts. Silvern was a six-time winner from twenty-nine starts … and so the imbalance of statistics as punters went through the field, on paper at least, seemed to weigh up against the Thompson trained runner who was having only his third career start.

But just as a horse doesn’t know its starting price, neither does it worry about the quality of the opposition. If nothing else, the run would add to her education, but, if the stable had pulled the right rein by placing her here, they would be the one’s learning more about Upper Class and her potential going forward.

As this panned out, the decision to race Upper Class here proved to be spot-on.

The mare jumped well enough but jockey Jim Byrne was content to take her back in the field in the early part. The duo raced in fifth then sixth position some five lengths behind the Jad who went out to set the early target.

Upper Class saved ground on the rail throughout the sweep to the turn before shifting two wide on straightening as Byrne went in search of clear galloping room.

By the 200m mark Carry The Clubs (on the inside running rail) and Silvern (two wide) were launching their challenges on either side of Jad, who was still clinging to a narrow advantage. At that stage Upper Class had moved into fourth place, some three lengths off the action.

Upper Class warmed to his task over the next 100m and, with 100m left to run, he loomed up on the outside of the leading trio. The race was still no gimme though. Silvern did weaken and drop away, but Carry The Clubs and Jad kept fighting all the way to the line.

Momentum was on the side of Upper Class though and the Thompson trained runner edged ahead when it mattered most to score by a half-neck margin from the favourite Carry The Clubs and Jad who finished second and third respectively.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Toby Edmonds (assistant trainer to John Thompson): “It was a jump in class on paper, but this race popped up. It was a Two-Metro-Win, but a few of them are struggling, you know, so whether it was a big jump in class or not is the question.

"I think it might have been a bit of an inflated Two-Metro-Win to be truthful.

“The pedigree’s good. She is a half-sister to Brave Lancer so we thought the six (furlongs) might have been a bit short. We were concerned that she might have wanted a bit further. We thought maybe 1400m … and obviously the speed wasn’t as good as we thought it would be, so that effort was pretty good coming from the back.

“She is a filly on the up and it was there to be had today … if she was good enough."

Jockey Jim Byrne: “She is obviously a class horse. Only three starts back she had just won a maiden.

“The way the race was run here today … they didn’t go that quick early and then all of a sudden they packed it on from the half-mile.

“I wasn’t really concerned about the slow early speed, because I was happy as long as I could jump on somebody’s back who was going to take me into the straight.

“As soon as I was able to do that she was always going to finish the race off.

“She was a little bit hyped up today. I got the feeling she was at her second start as well. Everything’s kind of new to her at the moment. Once she relaxes a little bit and develops a bit more, you know, obviously she is going to get over a bit further. Her pedigree suggests that.

“She’s got a really good turn of foot. She got home in a sub-34 today. It was a good effort.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Upper Class): 6.00 out to 9.00 in to 8.00.
Favourite (Carry The Clubs): 3.80 out to 4.20 in to 3.70. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
The Joker (P. Hammersley) was slow to begin.

Approaching the first turn, Silvern (E. Wilkinson) commenced to over-race and did so until near the 600m.

Unsupervised (L. Cassidy) raced ungenerously and laid out for a short distance passing the 600m.

Carry The Clubs (B. Evans) raced in restricted room for some distance approaching the 200m when attempting to take a narrow run to the inside of Jad (J. Wood).

Stewards sought an explanation from apprentice A. Butler and trainer D. Kelly in regard to the tactics employed on Another Takeover.

D. Kelly stated that he instructed apprentice Butler to restrain the horse in the early stages with a view to taking up a rearward position.

Butler explained that after the gelding began only fairly he attempted to comply with the instructions issued, and in the early stages he was placed in a three-wide position to the outside of The Joker. He added that he was hopeful of restraining Another Takeover to a position behind The Joker, however was unable to do so as a result of Another Takeover racing fiercely.

Apprentice Butler further added that when the speed slowed through the middle stages, his mount continued to over-race and laid in when racing in a three-wide position.

Trainer D. Kelly was fined $200 under AR175(q) for misconduct, in that following race 1 on return to the enclosure of his runner, Another Takeover, he made audible comments to rider apprentice A. Butler which, in the opinion of the stewards, were inappropriate.

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