EF OCT 16 - HOUR OF PERIL WINS WITH AUTHORITY

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Eagle Farm, October 16, 2010.
Track - Heavy 8. Rail - out 4.5m.
QTIS Handicap (3yo’s) - 1500m.
Time: 1-34.44. Last 600m: 37.97. (Carrying 55kg).
1 Hour Of Peril; 2 Random Orbit; 3 Rapid Leica Dane.
Margins: 2.25; 1.25.

Horses carrying the Patinack racing colours are prominent at so many racetracks these days and those who went with the blue, green and gold in the opening event on the card at Eagle Farm on Saturday got a healthy kick-start to their day’s punting.

Hour Of Peril had shed his Maiden ticket at his previous start over 1350m at Doomben. The son of Fusaichi Pegasus had achieved that mark with ease, coming home with plenty in hand.

This race represented a far sterner test, both in terms of opposition and the fact that the gelding was stepping up in distance to the 1500m trip on heavy going.

In the end, all of that made not the slightest bit of difference to the chestnut who romped in under the usual competent ride from jockey Stathi Katsidis.

Katsidis asked little of his mount in the early part. He took Hour Of Peril back to eighth place racing some seven lengths off the speed.

The duo were happy enough to bide their time but when Castle Express, who had raced behind Hour Of Peril early on, went past the Patinack runner on the outside, forging forward in search of a better position in the sweep to the turn, Katsidis took the opportunity to get on the back of Castle Express and allowed that runner to cart him into the race.

At the same time that Castle Express and Hour Of Peril made their respective moves, the pace, which was being dictated by Belle Verde, slowed appreciably. That meant that Castle Express and Hour Of Peril were able to get into strong, challenging positions with the minimum of fuss by the time Belle Verde brought the field into the home straight.

Belle Verde was able to kick off the slow tempo. Satch, who had raced in second place throughout, fought on briefly but he ran out of steam at the 200 mark.

That left the Castle Express and Hour Of Peril, now out wider on the track, as the closest runners to the long-time leader.

Belle Verde started to shorten her stride inside the final 150m and, with Castle Express only whacking away, the door was left wide open for Hour Of Peril to take command of proceedings and the gelding needed so second asking.

Given more rein by Katsidis, Hour Of Peril put the result beyond doubt in a matter of strides and he ran right away from the opposition over the concluding stages to score by a clearcut 2.25 length margin.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Toby Edmonds (Assistant trainer to John Thompson): “It was a solid win. He should be beaten them too.

“He was very unlucky in the Bailieu in Sydney (at Rosehill on April 3) when he went down there after he’d raced up here as a two-year-old.

“His Bailieu run (where he finished unplaced, but only 3.20 lengths behind Skilled*) was a super run. He sat three, four deep and kept coming.

“He was very temperamental and hot. He’s been gelded (after the Bailieu run) and he has become quite an honest horse now. It’s great.

“I think he is a just a little bit better than merely being set to go through his classes here.

“John (Thompson) does a great job in placing them and sending them interstate. We might give him another run here and see how he goes.”

*Skilled followed up his Baillieu win with a runner-up finish behind Yosei in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes before going on to win at the highest level in his very next start when taking out the Group 1 Champagne Stakes).

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: “I thought he’d be hard to beat today.

“Many a good horse has won a Maiden and then tried to step up to Saturday grade. They generally only place first time after that, but he was good enough to win.

“The whole Patinack team … they think outside the box. They do things other people probably wouldn’t do and they are definitely reaping the rewards for doing that.

“Look, all credit to the horse. Like, I’ve got to have the horse to be able to do it. He had the ability to go forward from a long way out and then sprint when I asked him at the 200 when horses looked to be sort of coming at him.

“He was stepping up to 1500m today too, so I had that in the back of my mind. He had the ability and the stamina to do it today.

“If you had have seen him the other day when he won his Maiden he looked pretty ordinary in the enclosure and he was still good enough to win that day.

“Today he looked magnificent. You wouldn’t even know it was the same horse, so obviously he improved a lot within himself.

“The track … to be honest … just trotting down, I thought this is only slow. But it is definitely heavy and they are definitely going to cut into it.

“There are going to be a lot of horses that won’t handle the track today.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Hour Of Peril): 4.00 out to 5.00.
Favourite (Slice And Dice): 4.00 out to 4.20. Finished eighth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Overboard (M. Hellyer) jumped away awkwardly and shifted out making heavy contact with Angel From Above (E. Wilkinson) which as a result lost its position.

Near the 1200m Rapid Leica Dane (M. Cahill) raced in restricted room for some distance inside of Dark Secrets (J. Bowditch) which after initially tightening the running of Rapid Leica Dane was taken in marginally by Satch (P. Hammersley).

Both P. Hammersley and J. Bowditch were advised to exercise more care and provide sufficient racing room to their fellow riders.

When the pace slowed during the middle stages Allinfrontofher (J. Byrne), Hour Of Peril (S. Katsidis), Overboard and Angel From Above all over-raced.

Allinfrontofher continued to over-race and on several occasions approaching the 600m had to be steadied from the heels of Random Orbit (J. Wood).

Castle Express (M. Wood) was obliged to race wide throughout.

Rounding the home turn Random Orbit shifted out and made contact with Rapid Leica Dane on several occasions when attempting to obtain clear running.

Rapid Leica Dane held its racing line, which resulted in Random Orbit being held up until leaving the 350m.

Stewards sought an explanation from M. Speers, the rider of Slice And Dice, in regards to the gelding's seemingly disappointing performance.

M. Speers said the horse showed good speed from the barrier and after leading briefly was able to secure a nice run just behind the leaders and travelled comfortably throughout the early and middle stages.

M. Speers added that when he placed Slice And Dice under pressure in the straight it failed to respond to his riding and proved disappointing.

A post-race veterinary examination of Slice And Dice revealed no abnormalities, however it was revealed that the horse had sprung its near-fore and off-hind plates in running.

Trainer L. Birchley reported to stewards that he was disappointed with the performance, however stated that the horse raced on the inside section of the track and, in his opinion the racing pattern today has shown that that is the inferior section of the track.

Mr Birchley nonetheless undertook to advise stewards of anything comes to light in coming days which may have had an effect on the horse's performance.