TTC JUL 11 - VOICE COMMANDER BLASTS THE OPPOSITION

By Graham Potter | Monday, July 13, 2009

Top Canberra trainer Nick Olive and Stradbroke winning jockey Tye Angland teamed up to score the big prize at the meeting at Toowoomba on Saturday when Voice Commander gave his field a galloping lesson in the Weetwood Handicap.

“When I knew I had them chasing, I knew I had them beat,” said Angland upon dismounting.

Voice Commander led briefly after the break but Angland then let his mount settle in second when That’s Better moved up around his outside. Angland never gave up the rail run though and when he asked Voice Commander to regain the lead early in the sweep to the turn, the four-year-old had the room to do so and the ability to get there with ease.

It was really a ‘no contest’. Angland shifted Voice Commander out slightly on straightening and then increased the temp enough to leave his opposition chasing shadows as he came away to win in impressive style to validate his trainer’s decision to extend his schedule in Queensland to include the Toowoomba feature.

Toowoomba, July 11, 1009.
Weetwood Handicap (Listed) - 1300m. Time - 1-17.95
Track - Cushion Track.
1 Voice Commander; 2 Bitabiff; 3 Wasted Emotions.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Nick Olive: “The reason I was happy to run him on a synthetic track is that we can’t get a heavy track. He hates a wet track. He’s been in Queensland for a while. He should have won the Eye Liner four weeks ago. He had a tough run and just got beat. Then he was legless on the heavy track at the Sunshine Coast. I’ve been saying that he has gone as good as he has ever gone this horse, but he just hasn’t been able to show it, unfortunately ... well he showed it at Ipswich but he couldn’t show it at the Sunshine Coast.

“We were the first ones to have a synthetic track at Canberra.” (Olive is based in Canberra where he is this season’s Premiership winning trainer). “He hasn’t raced there, but he does all of his track-work and all his trials on that track. The first time this race came on the radar was probably only after Ipswich. It was in the back of my mind then and after what happened at the Sunshine Coast (the heavy track) we definitely decided to stay.

“We’ve got options to consider now, but the Magic Millions in January is his main aim and anything we do has got to fit in with that. Tye (Angland) will have the option to stay on the horse. Tye is riding three for me in Canberra tomorrow. He does a lot of travelling around and rides a lot of my horses.”

Jockey Tye Angland: “I was happy with his last run at the Sunshine Coast. He doesn’t handle the heavy going, but if you watch the race the last 400m he makes up a lot of ground. Today, on the Cushion Track, he jumped good and he put himself right there. He is a very free-rolling horse so I sort of let him just roll into it. We went quite steady in front. From the 600m I got rolling and I made then chase us. They weren’t good enough to catch me.

“It’s interesting comparing it (the Cushion Track) to the synthetic surface down at Canberra. It’s probably a little bit looser. They still don’t get into it much. They are still running on top but they seem to flick up. It’s more cottony ... you know, they sort of flick up more. Down at Canberra it’s flakey. This thing sticks together a lot more. So when it comes up, it comes up in like a little fist-ball. It’s not bad. They sort of flick it up and it fades away.

“I know the temperature has an effect on the track so it will vary as you go along. In Canberra, the colder Canberra is the better it (the track) is. It sticks together a lot more and is a better surface. Canberra is more of an oily base and when it is hot obviously it is going to melt a bit and it becomes a lot looser. I don’t know with this track but it seems to race well. A few horses in front have won and a few horses in behind, so it seems a good surface.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Flaming (A. Pattillo) jumped outwards at the start, making contact with Nexgen (J. Taylor), which in turn made contact with In Rehearsal (E. Wilkinson). Wasted Emotions (M. Cahill) over-raced in the early stages. Near the 400m, Nexgen (J. Taylor) shifted out in an endeavour to improve its position and in doing so made contact with In Rehearsal on a number of occasions. Rockpecker (D. Brown) had difficulty securing clear running in the early stages of the straight.