CAUL OCT 09 - LIGHTLY RACED LINTON WINS HERBERT POWER

By Taron Clarke | Monday, October 11, 2010

Caulfield, October 9, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - True. Penetrometer 5.28.
Herbert Power Stakes Quality Handicap (Group 2) - 2400m.
Time: 2-29.43. 600m Sectional: 35.72. (Carrying 54.5kg).
1 Linton; 2 Cedarberg; 3 Precedence.
Margins: 0.5L x 0.4L.

Owner Lloyd Williams good run of fortune continued at Caulfield on Saturday afternoon when his grey gelding Linton raced into Cups contention with a grinding victory in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes over 2400 metres.

The lightly raced son of Galileo has always shown potential as a top line stayer with a placing in the Australian Guineas in the autumn and more recently a slashing third behind Precedence in the JRA Cup over 2040 metres.

Part owner Nick Williams was quick to rule the four year old out of next Saturday’s Caulfield Cup. The Williams clan will eye a potential start in the Melbourne Cup on November 2, a race that Williams senior has won three times previously with Just A Dash, What A Nuisance and most recently with Efficient in 2007.

Linton was sent out third elect in the betting behind boom stayers Precedence and Moudre, who were both eyeing a victory in the race to guarantee themselves a start in the Caulfield Cup.

Williams’ god son Nick Hall retained the mount on the Robert Hickmott trained grey and they started from barrier three in the field of ten.

The pair were well served at barrier rise and down the straight and passing the post on the first occasion Hall managed to slot in the grey one off the fence on the immediate outside of Precedence, four lengths off the early leader, Sterling Prince.

The field raced up the side of the track and passed the mile marker and the roughie Jeuneys End raced up to tackle Sterling Prince and ran to the lead.

Back in the field the second favourite Moudre was getting no luck at all. Craig Williams had the son of Blevic posted three wide at the tail of the field and the pair spotted the leader some fourteen lengths.

At the 1000 metre pole Jeuneys End and Sterling Prince raced out to a clear three length margin over Apprehend who was holding down third.

Favourite Precedence was racing in fourth position on the fence, five lengths from the leader.

The runs started to come from the half mile, with Linton brought three wide from the second half of the field.

Jumping on to Linton’s back was Moudre. After racing wide through the early and mid-stages, Williams was able to slot the Warrnambool trained galloper in one off the fence from the 1200 metre turn.

The field of stayers wheeled for home and a line of four horses made the turn together. Jeuneys End, Sterling Prince and Apprehend were joined by Cedarberg who chimed in with a well-timed run.

Blake Shinn on board Precedence had come away from his rails trailing position to avoid being held up and was racing to the immediate inside of Linton as the field balanced up in the early part of the straight.

Cedarberg raced to the lead at the top of the straight and was being chased by Linton and Precedence.

Linton responded to the strong whip riding of Hall to claim Cedarberg at the 100 metre mark and steadily drew away over the concluding stages.

The grey gelding had a half-length to spare over the game Cedarberg with a long neck back to the favourite Precedence in third.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Part-owner Nick Williams: “No he won't run next week. He's a very lightly raced horse.

“He needed the experience and I don't think there'd be much left of him if he ran next week. So we'll save him. Whether he has a run before the Cup or where he goes straight into it we'll wait and see.

“As I said he's a lightly raced horse and he needs the experience, so he'll probably need another run but we have to see how he pulls up.

“It was his first go at a mile-and-a-half and he's obviously done a great job, but there's a lot of improvement in him. He's obviously come on since his Moonee Valley run.

“Let’s hope he can keep going.

“He’s not fragile at all. He's from probably the best staying sire in the world in Galileo and I think he's the right sort of horse for the Melbourne Cup.

“He's light on his feet and he’s a very clean winded horse, but he just lacks experience at the moment.

“The runs take a bit out of him. We certainly don't want to bottom him. We'd like to have him going at nine like we have Zipping going, so let's not finish him off right now.

“As I said last week the race is four weeks away. Well, now it's three and a bit weeks away. A day is a long time in racing and three and a half weeks is an eternity … so anything can happen.

“He's done a great job and it’s a credit to all the team getting him here.”

Jockey Nick Hall: “He's only on about his fifth start today and he's won a Group 2.

“I think there were big expectations of him this time in, but I reckon you see a better horse in time.

“Probably not the Cup this year, but Lloyd's been in the industry a long time and he'll know what to do with him.

“It was going to be a real, real, tactical race. Me and Lloyd had a big discussion about it last night and we definitely had it in our head that we needed to be sprinting on the turn away from Precedence.

“He's looking for further on now and if we can put a few lengths on him on the turn then we were going to be hard to chase down.

“I had to use him early and that was part of the tactics, but he ground to the line good.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Linton): 4.80 out to 5.00 in to 4.60.
Favourite (Precedence): 2.60 out to 2.70 in to 2.60. Finished third.

Horse to follow: Linton took the step to winning in open company. Precedence was caught in the wrong spot at the wrong time approaching the corner. He will miss the Caulfield Cup but will still need to win a decent race to guarantee a start in the big one.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
The explanation of trainer Mr R Hickmott for presenting Linton late on course was accepted.

Precedence (NZ) over-raced in the early and middle stages.

Passing the 200m Precedence (NZ) was inconvenienced when attempting a run between Linton and Cedarberg which shifted out under pressure. As a result Precedence (NZ) had to be steadied.

Apprehend lost its off-fore plate during the running of the race.

C Williams (Moudre) was issued with a severe reprimand under the provisions of AR137A(5)(a)(ii) for using his whip seven times prior to the 100m. In assessing penalty Stewards took into account C Williams’ excellent record under this rule.

D Oliver (Doctor Fremantle) explained that in his opinion his mount felt short in it action and may be better suited on rain affected tracks. A post-race veterinary examination revealed no abnormalities.

C Newitt (Apprehend) reported at scale that he could offer no explanation for the disappointing performance of Apprehend today and recommended to the stable to experiment with blinkers.

C Williams (Moudre) reported at scale that the gelding raced flat and in his opinion had come to the end of its preparation. A subsequent veterinary examination of Moudre revealed no abnormalities.

After the running of the race the Club’s veterinary surgeon reported that Linton had sustained small grazes to its off-fore fetlock.

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