DOOM OCT 10 - TWO-IN-A-ROW FOR DEFENCEMAN

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Doomben, October 10, 2012.
Track - Good 3; Rail - Out 8m.
Benchmark 80 Handicap - 1650m.
1 Defenceman; 2 Dienekes; 3 Billum; 4 Tenacious Jack.
Time: 1-39.63. Last 600: 35.19.
Margins: 0.10; 0.80.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Robert Heathcote: “I think he is going to be a nice 2000m horse when he gets there.

“He shows a fair bit of fight this horse. I earmarked him early days as a horse with a bit of a future. He looks like he starting to put it together a bit. It was a good effort.”

Jockey Ryan Hurdle: “I thought Dienekes out the one was going to be hard to get around. It was always going to jump and run, but I wasn’t expecting Jason letherby (on Vivaheart) to be kicking up.

“I just had to use him a little bit to get around but, once we got there, he settled good and he always travels happy.

‘About the 500m mark I started hearing the sticks go behind me and I thought I’ve got Dienekes at 55kg against my 52. I thought I was going to have a huge edge, so I just sat and waited.

“With the other horse (Dienekes) laying on us in the straight I never pulled the stick anyway and he still got there. It’s quite impressive when they can do that.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Interview (M. Cahill) broke its tongue-tie during its preliminary and the barrier staff were unable to refit the tongue tie and as a result Interview competed in this race without this gear.

Defenceman (R. Hurdle) shifted out soon after the start and bumped Slick Image (R. Wiggins).

On jumping away J. Lloyd became unbalanced on Billum, which was then taken out on to Tenacious Jack (G. Colless) soon after the start by Trajet (C. Munce).

Tenacious Jack over-raced in the early stages.

Apprentice A. Allen was issued with a reprimanded for allowing Dienekes to shift out under pressure over the final 200m which resulted in Defenceman being taken wider on the track.

R. Wiggins reported that Slick Image did not run out a strong 1600m and it would be his recommendation that the gelding be restricted to shorter races in the future. A post-race veterinary examination of Slick Image did not reveal any significant findings.

Defenceman lost its near-fore plate in running.

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