CAUL OCT 09 - FREEDMAN ON THE MONEY WITH SLEEPERS

By Taron Clarke | Monday, October 11, 2010

Caulfield, October 9, 2010.
Track - Dead 4. Rail - True. Penetrometer 5.28.
Handicap 3YO C+G’s - 1200m.
Time: 1-10.75. 600m Sectional: 35.06. (Carrying 56.5kg).
1 Sleepers; 2 Mac Chois; 3 That’s Not It.
Margins: 0.1L x 0.5L.

Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman called upon many years of spring carnival successes to plot a successful set of tactics for the Darley owned Sleepers in the first race on Caulfield Guineas Day.

With the running rail back to the true position, Freedman was adamant that the best position for his horse Sleepers would be in front on the fence to take advantage of the fresh ground closest to the rail.

The master trainer was on the money with the Canny Lad colt leading all the way to score narrowly for talented heavyweight jockey Steven Arnold.

Having his second run this campaign, Sleepers was sent out at double figure odds, despite firming two points late in betting.

Arnold bounced the chestnut away and the pair were quickly into stride and held the inside running through the first 200 metres of the event.

Favourite for the race was the Grahame Begg trained Mac Chois for jockey Glen Boss. Boss ensured his mount assumed the position outside the leader upon settling down into stride.

The tempo was only moderate through the first half of the race with Arnold allowing his mount to grab some cheap sectionals through the mid stages of the event.

Approaching the turn, Arnold afforded Sleepers some more rein and the colt slipped away by two lengths from the favourite Mac Chois.

Boss sensed the need to ask his mount to pick up the bit and pushed the favourite along under hands and heels riding as the leader skipped away upon straightening.

Sleepers held a clear two length margin beyond the furlong pole when Arnold produced the whip.

Glen Boss was doing his best to extricate the most out of Mac Chois as the son of Choisir had a tendency to want to lay in behind Sleepers.

Sleepers hit the brick wall at the 75 metre mark and Glen Boss was able to straighten Mac Chois and come with one last dive at the leader.

But Arnold maintained his balance and poise to lift Sleepers to a short-half-head victory over favourite Mac Chois with a half-length back to That’s Not It in third place.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Lee Freedman: “We thought this horse would win in Adelaide the other day. He pulled up and had a bit of a respiratory problem afterwards, so we just gave him some time to get over it.

“Always of the belief here that when the rails in the true here early in the day, particularly Guineas Day, if you’ve got a speed horse drawn one, use the speed and there’s no better rater of a horse than Steven Arnold I suppose.

“Well I don't really know where he will go next. There's probably some second level races, we'll probably just poke around with him. He's no star but he's very honest.

“It is good to get a winner on Caulfield Guineas Day … on all days as far as I'm concerned!

“It is a nice start for Darley and a nice start for us.

“The horses are going good and I thought I had a couple of really good chances today, but I got knobbled at the draw … so we'll see what happens.”

Jockey Steven Arnold: “Lee (Freedman) said he had a pretty good plan. He said ‘lead first race around the corner and give it a kick’ so that's exactly what happened.

“He gave a good kick around the corner and obviously the favourite was coming in strong late, but it was a good effort.

“We weren't going all that quick, so I was happy just to my take the time to roll through and we had a couple of nice sectionals.

“I went a bit early, but I thought I would try and get a little gap around the corner and he was tough enough to hang on.

“The track is beautiful, great cover of grass on it and it's just a dead 4 now, but a perfect racing surface.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Sleepers): 11.00 out to 13.00 into 11.00.
Favourite Mac Chois 2.80 out to 3.50. Finished second.

Horse to follow: Favourite Mac Chois couldn’t quicken with Sleepers on the swing for home and wanted to lay in down the running before knuckling down over the concluding stages to just fail to catch the leader. A race with minimal depth however but the runner up has scope for improvement.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT: Mac Chois jumped awkwardly shifted in and made heavy contact with Strike The Tiger which got unbalanced.

Near the 400m Mac Chois shifted out slightly inconveniencing Magnificent Force which was forced wider on the track. British General which was following then shifted out abruptly to avoid the heels of Magnificent Force.

M Zahra (Golestan) was issued with a reprimand for permitting his mount to shift out on the point of the home turn near the 350m, when not fully clear of Happy Trails which had to be eased and shift in to avoid heels.

Approaching the 200m Golestan shifted out slightly under pressure and bumped Magnificent Force.

Mac Chois layed in under pressure in the straight.

B Stanley (Strike The Tiger) was of the view that his mount choked down during the run as it was making an abnormal breathing noise. A subsequent veterinary examination of Strike The Tiger revealed no abnormalities.

M Zahra (Golestan) was of the view that his mount was not suited by the tempo of the race and is looking for further. A veterinary examination of Golestan after the race revealed no abnormalities.

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