MV OCT 23 - SOUND JOURNEY BACK IN FORM FOR KAV AND RODD
By Taron Clarke | Monday, October 25, 2010
Moonee Valley, October 23, 2010.
Track - Dead 4. Rail - True. Penetrometer 4.61.
Patinack Farm Crystal Mile Open Handicap - 1600m.
Time: 1-36.71. 600m Sectional: 37.29. (Carrying 56.5kg).
1 Sound Journey; 2 Trader; 3 Drumbeats.
Margins: 0.2L x 1.3L.
Mark Kavanagh’s Sound Journey landed the biggest win of his career with a narrow victory in the $207,000 Group 2 Patinack Farm Crystal Mile over 1600 metres.
The son of Good Journey had been out of form this campaign since a slashing first run performance when a narrowly beaten into second behind Jeuneyman at Caulfield back in August.
But Kavanagh, the horseman that he is, tinkered with the six-year-old entire’s gear and added a tongue tie and the result was a career best win.
Partnered by stable jockey Michael Rodd, Sound Journey was sent out an outsider in the event at 14.00.
The favourite for the race was kiwi trained Firebolt. Coming off a disappointing performance in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap three weeks ago, the son of Stravinsky was sent out an easing favourite to start at 4.20 on the strength of an impressive victory in the Group 2 Shannon Stakes and consistent Brisbane Winter Carnival form.
Michael Rodd and Sound Journey jumped away well and, from barrier nine, Rodd elected to let the six-year-old find his feet early and the pair settled towards the rear of the thirteen horse field.
Favourite Firebolt was well away early and jockey Danny Nikolic settled the five-year-old down in midfield … one off the fence, six lengths off the leader Gathering.
Gathering showed out by a length to the good of Conquering who made a move three wide at the 1000 metre mark to sit up outside the leader.
Racing in the box seat was La Rocket who sat one off the fence on the outside of Rockpecker who was ridden by Craig Williams.
Down the side of the track and inside the 800 metres, the leader Gathering came off the bridle and the field bunched up behind the leader.
Michael Walker’s mount Trader was flushed out three wide from his midfield position to gain clear galloping room. Even wider on the track was the Queensland visitor Poor Judge as Darren Gauci sent the galloper forward outside the leaders.
Sound Journey was brought out four wide at the tail of the field by jockey Michael Rodd as the pair latched on to the back of Rock Kingdom.
Sound Journey was given two cuts with the whip by Rodd rounding the home turn. The pair made a wide searching run and ran to within five lengths of the leader who was now the Anthony Cummings trained Trader.
Trader kicked two lengths clear of Gathering and there was a further length back to Sound Journey out wide on the course.
Inside the final 100 metres, Trader was starting to hit the brick wall, but still held a length and a half margin over Sound Journey.
Sound Journey’s strides were two to Trader’s one over the final 50 metres and the Kavanagh trained galloper struck the front in the shadows of the post to score a narrow victory over Trader with a touch over a length back to the eyecatcher Drumbeats in third.
Michael Walker later stated that he felt his mount Trader had lost concentration due to the crowd noise and infield screen as he was gobbled up by Sound Journey.
Walker will get a chance to atone for the narrow defeat next Saturday when the pair will again line up against Sound Journey in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes over 1600 metres.
WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Mark Kavanagh: “He is a funny horse. He has been a bit of a struggle to get right this time.
“We ran him a couple of times on heavy tracks and it just flattened him a bit.
“We took him over to Adelaide and rode him up a little bit closer on the pace, but he just wasn't right.
“We brought him back, just did a couple of different things with him, put a tongue tie on today, and got a result.
“If you do things the same you get the same result, that's where it is. These old horses … you know, he's an entire and they do a bit of thinking. They're hard to get right, but once they do they normally maintain their form.
“He was a lot out of form when we got him. He's been hard work, but we've earned the success with him anyway.
“Yeah, it has been a problem to work out his idiosyncrasies. The problem with this one is his idiosyncrasies change every week.
“I said to the boys today, ‘what you see today is what you get. He's absolutely on top of his game, the tongue tie the whole lot … what you see is what you're going to get.
“You know, whether you're good to arrive here and go on with it or whether you do something else down through the carnival, this will give us a good indication.”
Jockey Michael Rodd: “All the credit goes to Mark and all his staff at Flemington … Merv Harvey and that. They've turned him around now.
“He came back and he put in a good fresh run and then his form tapered off a bit. He went to Adelaide and put in a pretty average performance over there, and his last run was a bit better, but when I saw him today in the enclosure he was glowing and he was bouncing around.
“I thought, ‘he's going to give it a shake today'.
“I was off the bit early. I couldn't keep up … and then I was able to jump on Rock Kingdom's tail at about the 1000 and he just gave me a wonderful drag up.
“I was able to come around them, which the horse likes. He doesn't like getting cramped up too much, and, yeah, I just had to make my run when I wanted to.
“He ran past a lot of stopping horses, but he also attacked the line.”
PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Sound Journey): 10.00 out to 14.00.
Favourite (Firebolt): 3.70 out to 4.20. Finished eighth.
Horse to follow: Drumbeats turned in a wonderful Emirates Stakes trial and will be much better suited back on the wide open pastures of Flemington. The Darley owned galloper appears to have more upside then the two who finished in front of him.
STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Prior to the running of the race it was established that both Drumbeats and Rock Kingdom would be ridden quieter today from their wide barriers and announcements were made. Drumbeats and Rock Kingdom were ridden accordingly.
The start of this race was delayed several minutes when Gold Salute proved difficult to load in the barriers requiring the barrier extension having to be used after damaging the back gate in the process.
Trainer Mr M Riley was advised that Gold Salute would be required to perform satisfactorily in a jump out to the satisfaction of the Stewards before being permitted to race again.
D Gauci rider of Poor Judge was issued with a charge of careless riding under the provisions of AR137a, the careless riding being that he permitted his mount to shift in near the 1400m when insufficiently clear of Rock Kingdom resulting in Rock Kingdom having to be checked.
After taking into account the circumstances of the shift and that D Gauci has not been suspended since December 2007 which amounts to approximately 1700 rides, Stewards issued D Gauci with a severe reprimand.
Conquering raced wide without cover in the early and middle stages. Poor Judge also raced wide without cover.
After passing the 400m Snow Alert attempted a narrow run between Firebolt (NZ) and Conquering and subsequently had to be checked due to Conquering, which was giving ground, shifting out.
In all the circumstances the Stewards did not believe any rider or riders could be held responsible for the incident.
Trainer Mr K Fythe reported after the race that in his view Rockpecker had choked down and he would experiment with a gear change to remedy this situation in the future.
After the running of the race the Club’s veterinary surgeon reported that Gold Salute was lame in the off-fore leg and trainer Mr M Riley was advised a veterinary certificate of fitness is required prior to Gold Salute racing again.
D Gauci, rider of Poor Judge explained his mount was very fractious and didn’t begin cleanly. A post race veterinary examination of Poor Judge failed to reveal any abnormalities.
D Nikolic (Firebolt) could offer no excuse for the disappointing performance of the gelding and added that the gelding had worked well at Moonee Valley on Tuesday.
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