DOOM MAY 12 - SEA SIREN BLASTS AWAY HER OPPOSITION WITH A DOMINANT DISPLAY OF POWER

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 14, 2012

Doomben, May 12, 2012.
Bundaberg Distilling Co. BTC Cup (Group 1) - 1200m.
Track - Good 3. Rail – true.
1 Sea Siren; 2 Scenic Blast; 3 Beaded; 4 Varenna Miss.
Time: 1.08.10 (New race record beating the 1.08.39 set by Lord Essex in 2002).
Last 600m: 33.72.

The John O’Shea trained Sea Siren blasted away her opposition in no uncertain terms when claiming her first Group 1 success in only her sixth career start.

In the process the daughter of boom sire Fastnet Rock became the first filly to win the race since the BTC Cup became a weight-for-age event and she also lowered the race record time from the 1.08.39 (set by Lord Essex in 2002) to 1.08.10 – just 0.22 outside the track record recorded by the mighty Takeover Target in 2005.

The manner in which she achieved her stunning result was just as exhilarating as the cold stats that defined the scope of her victory. Chased out the gates, Sea Siren was strong early and she led the chase after the runaway leader Adebisi.

If Sea Siren was strong early, she was both strong and committed in the home straight as she proceeded to run down Adebisi, eventually collaring the year older chestnut with 180m left to run … and boy was she tough going to the line in the concluding stages, not giving even a hint that of any weakness in her armour.

Behind Sea Siren, Beaded, who had tracked the winner throughout, was brave but the six-year-old lacked the dash of her younger rival when it mattered most. She too went past Adebisi but she was in turn was passed by Scenic Blast in the final few strides as the Dan Morton trained runner arrived late to snare the runner-up spot leaving the Beaded having to settle for third place.

All that was merely tidying up the minor details though.

Sea Siren had been the dominant force and she had let only a few into the race with a chance, before clinically also dispatching them to the pile of also-rans.

Sea Siren is owned by K Biggs Enterprises P/L Synd (Mgr: K Biggs), Horseshoe Investments P/L Synd (Mgr R Russell), P Waller, J Monterrubio and Ms C Biggs).

The three-year-old filly is now a four-time winner from only six starts and her wins include both Group 1 and Group 2 successes. To date she has banked $455 230 in prize-money.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer John O’Shea: “She hasn’t had many runs, but she’s got a definite will to win. What a great advertisement she is for this fantastic sire Fastnet Rock.

“She was aided by a great ride. Jimmy (Cassidy) knows how to ride a Group 1 winner.

“I just said to Jimmy … just try and cross those ones on the inside, otherwise he would have half a chance of being caught wide. So just be positive getting out. Get her across and after that we’ll leave it to you.

“No, I wouldn’t compare her to Private Steer.” (O’Shea’s 2003 Stradbroke winner). “She is not up to Private Steer’s class. Private Steer was a freak and this horse is just a very good Group 1 winning filly.

“The Stradbroke has always been our intention. We’ll go to the 10 000 first.

“Keith (Part-owner Keith Biggs) said to me that he was scared to run her in the 10 000 and I tended to agree with him, being mindful not to overtax her. But Keith has given me the ok. I’ll probably just get home now and see how she is. All being well, I’ll run her in the 10 000 and then into the Stradbroke, although there is obviously a lot of water that has to go under the bridge before them.

“The key is going to be in the lead-up to the 10 000 and how she bounces back from this.

“If you watch the race you will see Jimmy was very kind to her as long as he could be. He had to give her a bit of a backhand about 100from home.

“We did leave plenty of juice in the tank for the Stradbroke and for her to come out and run 1.08 it is a bit worrying that she has had a hard run.

“She’s done a fantastic job. My feeling coming into the race was that there were a lot of horses in the field whose profile wasn’t suited to this race. I also didn’t like the form out of the TJ Smith. I didn’t think it had a lot of merit, so I thought she might win it by default, but obviously the race details show she’s done a bit more than that.

“Every time we’ve raised the bar she achieved the right result. I do remember the first time we ran her against Streama. I rang Biggsy up and I said, you better come over, she’s working well. He rang me back and said, I’ve done the form … you blokes have lost your marbles.

“It was a good result obviously when she won there.” (That was in the Group 2 Light Fingers when lowering the colours of the Coolmore, Group 1 Flight Stakes winner Streama). “She did run second to Stream after that, but again we’ve raised the bar today and she has produced the goods.

Credit to everyone associated with her. My staff has worked feverishly hard on her and a lot of credit must go to them.”

Jockey Jim Cassidy: “This is a marvelous training performance by John O’ Shea. He has placed this filly well. She came from restricted class in Sydney to take on Streama who was a Group 1 filly.

“John picked her ability early on. He said to me she would run in two races and then he would set her for the Stradbroke.

“He won that a few years back with a reasonably handy horse called Private Steer. I think this filly has got a long way to go to be in her class, but she has got plenty of ability.

“She has got a lot of positives. She can be on speed and dash when you ask her to.

“She is push-button. The speed was good. If they had not wanted to be a bit vigorous, I would have been happy to lead or sit off one. Look, she is very push-button … very professional and very good.

“She was probably only about eighty-percent today. She’s got more fish to fry. It was a good effort.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Sea Siren): 5.50 out to 7.50.
Favourite (Woorim): 5.50 out to 6.00. (Finished seventh)

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Satin Shoes (B. Shin) was slow to begin. Satin Shoes was tightened for room soon after the start between Woorim (D. Browne) and Facile Tigre (N. Rawiller), both of which shifted ground.

Near the 1000m, Scenic Blast (S. Scriven) had to be steadied from the heels of Spirit Of Boom (R. McMahon), which was taken in slightly by Varenna Miss (J. Byrne).

For some distance approaching and passing the 900m, Elite Falls (L. Cassidy) and Black Piranha (P. Hammersley) bumped on a number of occasions.

Facile Tigre and Satin Shoes raced three wide throughout.

Trainer J. McLachlan was afforded the opportunity of explaining the disappointing performance of Facile Tigre.

Mr McLachlan stated that Facile Tigre, being a big striding horse, may not be suited by the tight Doomben circuit. Mr McLachlan advised he was disappointed with the performance and undertook to advise stewards of any abnormality that comes to light which may have had a bearing on the performance today. A post race veterinary examination of Facile Tigre failed to reveal any abnormalities.

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