EF OCT 16 - RAPID MAGIC PULLS ONE OUT OF THE HAT

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Eagle Farm, October 16, 2010.
Track - Heavy 8. Rail - out 4.5m.
Class 6 Handicap - 1400m.
Time: 1-26.93. Last 600m: 38.81.
1 Rapid Magic; 2 Friday Nights; 3 Rock Rave.
Margins: 1.25; 2.25.

The Gerald Ryan trained Rapid Magic saluted for the second time in three starts this prep when he outgunned his rivals in comprehensive fashion at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

The son of Rapid Man had resumed with a solid enough win over 1200m at Doomben on September 15. He then finished unplaced in his follow-up start (also over 1200m). He was given the opportunity to chase over more ground here … and he seemed to relish the task.

The key to his success according to stable foreman Matthew Dunn is the speed of the race … and Rapid Magic got just what he needed here and was thus able to perform to his full potential.

Jockey Stathi Katsidis took then five-year-old back from his wide draw and the gelding settled third last a full ten lengths behind Shedaboss who set the early target.

Shedaboss was not left alone up front. Friday Nights sat right on the front-runners heels and the latter moved up to vie for lead as these two runners took the field to the home turn.

At that stage Rapid Man still only had two runners behind him and Katsidis had angled his mount out seven wide on straightening, still seven lengths adrift of the dueling duo up front.

Shedaboss quickly cried enough early in the home straight. Friday Nights, for his part, was full of running and the Troy Gaylor trained gelding bounded away to open up a useful lead.

That move quickly had the bulk of the field under pressure and struggling. The exception was Rapid Magic who, after gradually building momentum, was now in full cry. Even so, Rapid Magic was still three lengths behind Friday Nights with 200m left to run … and the latter was still kicking on.

Rapid Magic slowly reeled in his rival and, when Friday Nights began to feel the pinch late, Rapid Magic eventually breezed past Friday Nights to complete what, in the end, turned out to be a relatively soft win.

This was Rapid Magic’s fifth win from twenty-one starts. The gelding also has eight minor placings to his credit.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Matthew Dunn (Foreman for the Gerald Ryan stable at Murwillumbah): “It was a good win, yeah.

“He just needs tempo on. He’s is probably going to run further.

“Up until this prep … if you run him over 1200 he’d get back and work home and, if you sort of stepped him up over any further, he couldn’t run it.

“All he needs is tempo on.”

“His run last start was alright (when finishing sixth, 3.50 lengths behind Sway To Go over 1350m at Doomben).

“I don’t know why they potted it so much. It was a leader bias track and they went slow. He ran home well … in the last 100m he ran past half the field. That result definitely wasn’t as bad as it looked on paper.

“He likes this sort of track. He’s out of a Sea Road mare and they love it.”

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: “They went a reasonable tempo. He’s a sort of get back and get home sort of horse.

“Last start the tempo was against him. Today it suited him.

“He did have to sustain a long run. My horse was off the bit most of the race.

“We had to start a long run. I wasn’t too worried about coming so wide, but you do lose ground doing that. That horse Friday Nights slipped away a bit more on me when doing that.

“I thought I would get him quite easily, but then my horse, on seeing him (Friday Nights), he wanted to run back in towards him … and that cost him quite a bit of ground.

“I went from going to win by two lengths to just winning in the end.

“I just think you’ve got to stay away from the fence here today. Anything that is drawn one to four you probably going to have to put a line through, because those horses are going to be forced to stay on the inside.

“I’m lucky on most of my horses I have drawn wide and I’ll be able to find the better part of the track.

“Three or four off the fence is absolutely the place to be. Even if I don’t lead (in coming races) I’ll be staying sort of two off in the run and then getting out to a patch about four wide in the straight.

“The track is rain affected. Some horses will get through it. Some horses won’t.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Rapid Magic): 3.30 out to 3.60.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Shedaboss (J. Holder) and Rage And Rave (S. Seamer) made contact on jumping away. Rage And Rave then blundered, almost dislodging its rider.

J. Holder, the rider of Shedaboss, which performed below market expectations, explained that the horse over-raced for a considerable distance after reaching the lead and he felt this had a substantial effect on the horse's capacity to finish the race off.

J. Holder added that whilst the track is rain-affected, Shedaboss exhibits its best performances when the track is very heavy.

T. Edmonds, stable representative for trainer J. Thompson, advised that in light of the performance of Start Again today connections would now give consideration to spelling the horse.