FROM MY PERSPECTIVE - IT WAS GREAT TO BE INVOLVED IN THE EXCITEMENT OF A STRADBROKE FINISH

By Michael Cahill | Wednesday, June 12, 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.

Another Stradbroke has come and gone and I had a close up view of all of the action courtesy of the strong run from my mount Spirit Of Boom.

I expected Spirit Of Boom to run well. He got over-racing when Belltone got in on top of him shortly after the start. Belltone jammed in on his hindquarters and he didn’t like it and he got charging just for about a hundred metres.

Without that happening … I’m not saying he would have won the race but he’d have finished in the first three. His number would have been up there.

My preferred option going into the race would have been to be back a bit further with him and get to the outside.

I didn’t expect to be that close but had I been back seventh or eighth there was every chance I’d have been among those number of runners who were held up a little bit and who didn’t have the clearest paths.

Spirit Of Boom actually got a clear go where he was.

Just before Linton claimed us I was lining up Buffering and I started to get the feeling that we could almost get home. I thought we were going to grab Buffering.

I’d no sooner thought that than that grey head appeared flashing up on my inside.

Nick Hall didn’t call when he was coming through. There wasn’t that much room there between Spirit Of Boom and Linton. It is a game of inches. Had there been even a slight inward movement from Spirit Of Boom at that stage I’d have stopped his run.

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Tony Gollan and I obviously discussed the race beforehand.

Tony preferred that we come down the outside and that was my idea as well, so I was looking to come to the outside, but I couldn’t get there. I just wasn’t going well enough to try and attempt to move Your Song out of the way, so I had to take the line in front of me and, fortunately, there was room to go.

If Spirit Of Boom was unlucky at all it was that he finished fourth. It was a run that deserved a win or a second placing.

Spirit Of Boom is a horse that is always thereabouts in those big races. He is a bit like Buffering. His record is not as good as Buffering’s obviously but he is never far away. It is only a matter of things going right for him.

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Did several jockeys make a mistake in the Stradbroke by ignoring the inside run in the straight?

I won’t say anyone made an error. Things can always be proven to be an error with hindsight but, at the time, I wouldn’t have thought it was an error.

Ideally I was looking to get out and even Nick Hall on the winner looked to do the same thing. He came out about three horses off the rail prior to the turn. He couldn’t go.

He made the winning decision when he realised if he persevered in trying to get to the outside he was not going to do any good and that was when he switched back in to the rail.

It was a very good ride, but there was also a huge element of luck that went with it.

Having said that, my word, Linton had to play his part as well. His acceleration was quite phenomenal. It certainly helped get him through the gaps. He was going that quickly they didn’t have time to close.

If you don’t have that momentum the gaps can close on you and you can be in trouble so, as I say, it was a great ride but Linton did need a good deal of luck to go his way to turn the inside run into a winning passage.

He got that. Good luck to him.

Most big races are won by horses who get a clear run.

You don’t need to get your momentum stopped and staying on the rail and riding for luck might come off a small percentage of the time. You can also run into dead-ends and go to the line untested which would be very frustrating in a race like the Stradbroke.

That’s why most jockeys were looking to come out. It wasn’t so much necessarily to look for the better going, it was to give their horses clear running.

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Looking forward to the Ipswich Cup meeting I’ve got a fair book of rides.

I’ve been very fortunate to continually get good rides off good trainers. On Saturday I have rides for stables of the likes of Hawkes, Heathcote, Lockwood, Schweida, Wood and, of course, John Thompson.

As a jockey if you can ride consistently for good trainers like that it puts you in a very good position.

Their horses are so well prepared it just gives you the edge that everyone is looking for and it gives you a good feeling going into a good race-meeting knowing you are riding horses coming out of those stable-yards.

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I have won an Eye Liner. That was my first big win in Queensland. I think it was in ’97 … on an Adelaide horse called Carregidor. He was an ex-Bart Cummings horse and Mary-Anne Smith trained him. He was about 20-1.

It was a big field and it panned out similar to Linton’s run. He didn’t come right up the inside … I think I had to go around one horse … but he got back, got all the short-cuts, stormed home and won.

I haven’t won the Cup. I’ve won the Gai Waterhouse but it wasn’t called that at that time and I’ve won the two-year-old race a couple of times.

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This year I’ve got Secret Garden in the Cup.

She likes the track to be on the soft side, which she will more than likely get there. She a mare that is not comfortable racing inside horses. She likes to get to the outside … which can pose a problem in a big field around Ipswich … but she is certainly going to relish the trip and will appreciate carrying the minimum weight.

I’m on Benny’s Buttons in the Eye Liner.

You can excuse his last run. He drew a wide barrier over 1100m at Doomben and he was never on the track. His first-up win was good. His form prior to that in these type of races was good too so he’ll have his chance.

Peron in the Gai Waterhouse … the key with her is a dry track, hopefully. If the track is dead, she’ll be ok. I wouldn’t want her on a slow track. She’s also been nominated in Sydney so we’ll just have to see how that plays out.

Cup day is always a great day at Ipswich.

As we all know by now the whole town comes out to enjoy the day and help make it the success it normally is as one of the memorable feature days of the carnival.

Till next week,

Michael.

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