LARRY'S VIEW - HAVING FAITH IN A HORSE CAN PAY DIVIDENDS ... AND MY DERBY DAY DELIGHT

By Larry Cassidy | Friday, June 8, 2012

Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.

As a jockey, at times you can show continued faith in a horse when the public have already got off it a long time ago. On some of those occasions you get your reward for your persistence and Pepperwood’s long-priced victory at Eagle Farm last Saturday was a case in point where that proved true for me.

Everything worked out for Pepperwood last week. I’d ridden him every run this time in. In his last three starts I felt that the horse was going really well. I also thought that each run he was looking better in himself.

Obviously he was racing in those weight-for-age races. He is not that big and was carrying 59. He got conditions to suit at the Gold Coast, with a wet track, three runs back. I really thought he could nearly win that day. He ran a very good race even though he was beaten out of the placings.

Then he got on top of the ground at Doomben in another weight-for-age race and the track was just a bit fast for him. He got beat by six lengths. I still thought he didn’t run a bad race but, by now most punters has deserted him.

Like I said, I thought he was building towards something and then Liam (Birchley) suggested that the right race was coming up for him, being a 1500m handicap … which brings him down in weight. All he needed then was for the rain to come and he got that! His won two Bernborough’s remember. His first Bernborough came in soft going and he won his second Bernborough in heavy going.

I got off three other rides in the race. They weren’t bad rides either on paper, but I had faith in Pepperwood and thankfully, my judgement proved to be correct as Pepperwood produced his best on the day.

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Pepperwood started at $31. If you think that is a long price, well my Derby mount tomorrow, Tickled, has been quoted at around ten times those odds for most of the week. It’s even $61 a place!

Look, while he may not have the class … there are some better class horses in the race … I know he will run 2400m. The horse can stay and I’d be very surprised if he didn't beat three quarters of the field home! If the rain comes … well he handles a wet track too, so he’s got those two factors on his side. He’s tough, and if the race is run as a true staying race it is going to help him.

It’s hard to dent my enthusiasm about a Derby day. It’s been a good race for me. All up I’ve actually won seven Derbys. I’ve won three Queensland Derbys, one VRC Derby, one AJC Derby and two Singapore Derbys … so whatever Derby day it is somehow it is always an exciting day for me.

My last Queensland Derby winner was Court Ruler (in 2009). He paid about $12. I’ve ridden him twice. He was a funny horse to ride. He wouldn’t go. He would not go at all early. You had to ride the ears off him. You’d be riding him for the first 1200m … 1400m of the race and then all of a sudden he’d run home very fast the last furlong and yet he’d give them too much start. I think he’d run fourth in the New Zealand Derby and he’s form probably looked a bit lack-lustre going into the race, but I was really confident he would win that day, and he did.

I also won the Queensland Derby on Freemason (in 2000) and on Dodge (1998).

Freemason’s win … I can just remember it was a very wet day. The track was very, very heavy. I think I was back about fifth. He was one of the fancied runners. I took over with about 600 to go and he won easy.

Dodge, for his part, is up there as one of my favourite horses. He was a little bulldog. He wasn’t really a stayer. I think I won the Rough Habit on him going into the Derby. Realistically, he probably couldn’t run a mile-and-a-half, but we just rode him very quiet and cold and just did no work early. He just sprouted wings late and I burst through in-between the pack at about the 150m mark and he won by a length on the line. He was a gutsy little horse, he was!

My best Derby win would have to be Arena winning the VRC Derby. I drew the outside. I was back last and I never went around a horse. That was probably my most memorable Derby win as it was also my first Group 1 win in Melbourne.

Like I say a Derby day is always something special for me, even if it is a supporting feature as it is tomorrow when the Stradbroke will rightly take center stage.

Throw in the TJ Smith and you have a trio of Group 1 races that should have the crowd on their feet at Queensland’s biggest race meeting!

Enjoy the day.

Till next week,
Larry

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