BRC JUL 18 - BLACK MORGAN ROMPS IN

By Matthew Grimson | Monday, July 20, 2009

Eagle Farm, July 18, 2009.
Class 6 Handicap - 1400m. Time: 1-23.19.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 7.
1 Black Morgan; 2 Chilled; 3 Samtheflirt.

The Bruce Hill trained Black Morgan turned this race into a procession in the home straight, running right away from his opposition.

Jockey Damian Browne had no difficulty getting the five-year-old across from a wide draw into the leading line soon after the break. Once there Browne made a quick decision to allow Black Morgan to slip into the lead, from which moment the gelding dictated the course of events. Black Morgan held a comfortable lead until the home turn and then, when allowed more rein, he gradually increased his advantage in the final run home to score in convincing fashion.

This was Black Morgan’s sixth win from twenty-three starts.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Bruce Hill: “We were confident, but the barrier (number 12) was a bit of a worry. He has had a lot of bad luck lately, but things sort of worked out for him today. He’s had bad barriers, getting held up, you know, just everything has gone wrong for him. The horse has been going good for months but he’s just had no luck.

“We’ll just poke around with him. He won’t be going anywhere flash ... just pick a few races for him. You know I always wanted to get him up to 1400m or a mile. He raced terrific.

“He’s not bad to train. You’ve just got to be careful with him. You have to look after him because he can be a bit delicate. You have to nurse him along a little bit. He’s sound, you just have to look after him.”

Jockey Damien Brown: “He did a little bit of work to cross them. He has got a tendency to over-race a little bit, but thankfully nothing really attacked us in front and he was able to get away with a couple of nice sectionals which enabled him to finish the race off a bit.

“We planned to go forward, probably not really to the lead. All I really wanted was to let that other horse (Three Swallows) go forward, but my one was going a bit keen so I didn’t really want to fight him. I really just wanted to get him to relax and I was able to do that once he got to the front.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Passing the 800m, Unconquerable (J. Taylor) had to be steadied from the heels of Little Mel (S. Galloway), which shifted in. Near the 1300m, Chilled (S. Katsidis) shifted out slightly, taking Icedane (L. Rolls) out on to Certain Magic (B. El-Issa). At the same stage, Tipsy Piggy (S. Scriven), after initially shifting in and making contact with Notre Amour (C. McIver), again shifted in as a result of pressure to its hind quarters, resulting in Mr Doyle (J. Byrne) being tightened for room between Notre Amour and Certain Magic and blundering. In the circumstances, stewards were of the opinion that no blame could be attributed to any horse or rider. Base Dancer (D. Sparks) raced wide for the majority of the race.

When questioned regarding the seemingly disappointing performance of Tipsy Piggy, S Scriven stated that the mare travelled well up until the 800m, at which time he placed the mare under pressure and after accelerating for a short period, then commenced to tire and compounded in the home straight. Trainer B. Baldwin was unable to offer any explanation for the mare's performance and undertook to report to stewards any abnormality that may become apparent which may have had a bearing on the performance.