FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - THREE DOUBLES IN THREE DAYS. IT'S BEEN A GOOD WEEK AT THE OFFICE FOR ME

By Michael Cahill | Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Five-time Group 1 winning jockey Michael Cahill is the latest addition to the HRO blogging stable. Apart from Australia, Michael has ridden in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, South Korea and Mauritius. He brings thirty-three years of race riding experience to the game and with this greater all-around experience Michael is superbly qualified to give insightful commentary on the racing scene. Michael’s personal blog, ‘From my perspective’ will appear every Wednesday on HRO.

The last week has been a productive time at the office for me.

Two winners at Ipswich on Friday followed by further doubles at both Doomben (on Saturday) and Caloundra (on Sunday) has kept the scoreboard moving along pretty nicely … and I just missed out on a few too. I had no less than seven seconds (four in town) over the three meetings and six of those were beaten by less than a length … but that’s not a complaint.

In this game you learn very quickly you are lucky to get whatever winners you get.

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Possibly the most interesting horse amongst my winners was Carmora who has now stretched his unbeaten record to three runs.

He is a prime example of why people shouldn’t give up on a horse too early and how quickly a horse’s prospects can change.

I’d ridden Carmora in two barrier trials before his first run and the best way to describe them was ordinary … and that’s probably being polite. He beat one runner home on both occasions.

I hadn’t ridden him in track-work. Apparently he hadn’t impressed there either.

In his first run in a Maiden at the Sunshine Coast he didn’t know what he was doing.

I had to roar and rev him up and be aggressive on him out the barrier and he shifted abruptly out of the gates and crossed a couple of other horses. I had to really stand over him and make him go … and he felt like he was just a horse going around. He was just looking at everything, but he turned into a real surprise that day in terms of the result he achieved.

The one thing about his win was that, while he might not have beaten a very strong field, he beat them easily … and it felt like he was only going seventy percent of his capability.

Carmora then went straight to town and came out and beat a filly that I rate quite highly. I was on Perron that day and Carmona did a good job, winning in city company in only his second career start while stepping up from 1300m to 1600m.

This week was the first time I heard Desleigh (Forster) be a bit optimistic about him. She said he’d gone on with it a bit. He worked on Monday and she thought he had turned the corner so she was pretty confident during the week and she was still as quite confident going into the race on Saturday.

Education-wise, after the third run, he is getting better.
I still had to be aggressive on him getting him out of the barrier. He is learning though and he was a bit more natural in the running.

He is a horse that races on the speed. He seems to have a good lung capacity. You just don’t know how far he can go at this stage but, if he can run a distance … and the indications are there that he will … he’ll be a very interesting prospect.

You certainly can’t argue with what he has done already even if, not so long ago, it seemed highly unlikely that he would be able to put together any win, let alone an unbeaten, winning sequence.

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Secret Garden was my other city winner on the day.

She won with a bit of authority. She sort of just won the start before but on Saturday she took on probably better performed horses and accounted for them pretty well.

I was happy enough with the pace in the run. I was also happy enough where I was because I could get her to the outside when I wanted to. She is a mare that likes to get to the outside and run her own race … and that’s what she was able to do on this occasion.

It was a solid performance.

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I’ve got a bit of time for La Casino who won at Ipswich last Friday.

She is lightly raced filly and is now two-from-two since arriving in Queensland.

John Thompson is of the opinion she is a free-running mare and both times I’ve ridden her he has asked me to be aggressive on her early and let her run close to her top.

It’s been an effective tactic.

She won her Maiden by 5.50 lengths and got the job done again in a Class 2 contest on Friday … although the result was a lot closer this time.

She is a bit tardy out of the barriers. She is not a brilliant beginner and it takes her about fifty metres before she is in full stride.

She drew close to the inside last Friday and a couple of horses who drew outside got away a bit better than her so I had to really force her along … and that took a bit out of her at the finish, although there was still some fight there.

At her previous start, where she drew eleven out of twelve, she was a bit tardy again but I could let her get into her stride a bit more comfortably without having the pressure on her that she had on Friday.

Also, you have to take into account the fact that the track was heavy this time and she was up in class so, all things considered, it really was another good win.

I like this filly.

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Lastly, just a word on the Maiden winner I rode at Caloundra on Sunday.

It doesn’t really matter who you are beating, when a horse comes out on debut and beats the favourite into second place by over eight lengths, it certainly is worth a second glance.

Tahoe City was impressive was from the saddle.

Trainer Robert Wilson said he had an opinion of him. He said if the horse was in front coming off the turn they would not beat him. He was right.

The horse looked the part. He has a bit of a presence about him. He felt good going to the gates.

I pressed him a bit early. Once he got up outside the leader he just kept running.

He is another one who seems to have a high cruising speed. I didn’t have to do much work on his in the straight and he still took them apart quite comfortably.

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A winner is a winner, be it in a Maiden over 1000m (like Tahoe City) or an Open Handicap over 2100m (like Secret Garden).

They all count. They all bring their own thrill.

Like I said, in this game you learn very quickly you are lucky to get whatever winners you get … and, as you can see, I’ve been very fortunate this week.

Till next week,

Michael

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