SEVEN DAYS (THE WEDNESDAY REPORT): THE WEEKLY REVIEW (BTC CUP DAY)
By Graham Potter | Wednesday, May 14, 2014
HRO's news and commentary feature - SEVEN DAYS (THE WEDNESDAY REPORT) - provides a weekly review of racing activity, both on and off the track.
In what was largely marketed as ‘The Buff versus The Boom’ contest, the Group 1 BTC Cup ultimately turned out to be a victory parade for Noel Mayfield Smith and Ryan Wiggins who combined their talents with that of the five-year-old gelding Famous Seamus to score an impressive and clear-cut win in the opening Group 1 of the Brisbane Racing Carnival.
A year ago the son of Elusive City had also enjoyed Winter Carnival success taking out two Listed races in succession (The Hinkler and the Prime Minister’s Cup). His campaign at that time then took and about-turn as he finished down the field in the BRC Sprint (when pulling up suffering from thumps) before rounding off his fourth racing preparation with an unplaced finish in the Stradbroke.
Ryan Wiggins, who rode Famous Seamus in the Stradbroke, was reunited with Flying Seamus for this Queensland winter campaign with the duo finishing fifth out of eight runners in the Group 2 Victory Stakes, just under three lengths adrift of the one-two Temple Of Boom / Spirit Of Boom winning quinella combination.
Famous Seamus did suffer a black eye in the running in that race at Eagle Farm but, strictly speaking, he still had a couple of lengths to make up on the ‘Boom Brothers’ … and, of course, the ever present threat of Buffering also had to be contained if Famous Seamus was to fashion a winning result.
Famous Seamus not only managed to do that, but he achieved his desired result, accelerating to the head of affairs with such authority, that Wiggins was allowed the luxury of being able to celebrate in the saddle before his horse had crossed the line.
The little, pre-post, celebratory fist-pump might have cost the rider a $400 fine, but he wouldn’t have changed it for the world. It was a moment to be enjoyed and Wiggins wasn’t going to waste it.
It was his first Group 1 win … a landmark victory for a rider who has worked hard in the last couple of seasons to deliver a higher return for his talents and this Group 1 success was a fitting reward for that effort.
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Ryan Wiggins is not the easiest person to interview post-race. That is not because he is arrogant or unaccommodating … in fact he is very much the reverse, humble and helpful … but, whereas some riders like to tell you in detail how they guided the horse to victory, Wiggins almost always has a short response which basically is designed to deflect any praise from himself onto the horse that carried him to victory.
Look at the photo of the winning connections after most of Wiggins’ wins and the rider will be pointing to the horse. It’s all about the horse with ‘Wiggo.’ But this time, he couldn’t escape his fifteen seconds of fame as he duly fronted the media.
“It’s been a great day,” said Wiggins. “It’s any jockey’s dream to win a Group 1. I’m just lucky it’s happened.
“I set myself a goal a few years ago to start being a bit more full on with my riding. I’ve worked hard for this and everything has just paid off although, funny thing, when I went past the winning post on Famous Seamus … as much as I thought the Group 1 could happen and it did happen … the first thing I thought about was maybe I’d get some good rides over the carnival now.
“I’d like to thank Noel (Mayfield-Smith). He has been such a good supporter. I helped him out last carnival. I did him a favour and rode the horse in work where I was lucky enough to strike up some sort of partnership with the horse.
“Noel didn’t forget that and he paid me back today. I did put work into the horse last year, but this time around there were plenty of jocks kicking up for the ride today … and obviously better jocks than me too, but Noel gave me the opportunity.
“I knew the horse ... and on Tuesday the horses work was outstanding. The horse is a gem to ride in work and Noel puts so much work into this horse. He is nearly with the horse 24/7.
"The signs were good, but you feeI a bit silly going around telling people that the twenty-to-one shot would beat those sort of horses, but on the day I was confident.
“Three things made it easier for me. My two earlier winners (Magic In Motion and Pretty Pins) helped me. I obviously wanted to win this race but I’d had a good day already and that took a bit of pressure off me … and also the fact that I was on a long shot and I was confident, so there were no nerves there which was good.
The track was in good condition. The other day at Eagle Farm, being later in the day, the track was a bit chopped up. The conditions were much better at Doomben and that’s why you saw a different horse out there.”
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Buffering third placing in the BTC Cup has left form pundits divided as to the merit of his performance.
While it wasn’t the solid, hard to break down, end-to end power-play to which we have become accustomed, I would suggest it would be absolutely foolish to adjust any opinion of Buffering on the basis of this one run.
The fact that he came into the race off a one month break (after returning from Sydney) could give a clue as to why he arguably ‘underperformed’ by his standards. In previous years Buffering had launched his Winter campaign with multiple wins in the Victory Stakes which gave him a two week gap into the BTC Cup … instead of the four weeks.
That could have made the subtle difference in performance.
We’ll all know more after the Doomben 10 000 but, right now, the chances of Buffering bouncing back have to be at least as good as the horse’s form going backwards.
Buffering has done a lot of travelling in the twelve months since the 2013 BTC Cup, racing nine times in four states while annexing three, successive Group 1 victories and, even in this year’s BTC Cup, can never be said to have performed badly.
So let’s not right off the Queensland champ just yet!
Similarly, the Boom Boys (Spirit Of Boom and Temple Of Boom who finished second and fourth respectively) lost no admirers in defeat. They will be a force in the coming weeks.
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It was almost a given that trainer Chris Waller, who was not present at Doomben, and Nash Rawiller would chalk up a winner on BTC Cup day. Waller and Rawiller are seldom denied at least some success when they accept engagements in Brisbane and this was to be no exception.
These two high profile identities combined on two occasions on the day and came up trumps with the lightly raced Brazen Beau who took out the Group 2 Champagne Classic in only his third career start, winning by 1.80 lengths.
While it will go down as a Sydneysider success Brazen Beau’s win had a Queensland twist to it as the horse came home in the all gold colours of the Gold Coast based syndicator Ontrack Thoroughbreds and many of the colts host of owners were on hand to add colour to the vibe of the day with their vibrant celebration.
And Rawiller gave those connections hope for further success down the line.
“He has got a beautiful temperament the horse,” said Rawiller. “He is a similar type of horse to Pressday which we had a lot of success with here a few years back so, hopefully, he can live up to that comparison.
“I think he can go the whole way this horse.”
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Trainer John Thompson’s roller-coaster association with The Patinack Farm interests notched up another high on Saturday when the New Zealand bred Pretty Pins scored a runaway success in the Group 3 Chairman’s Handicap under a tremendous ride by Ryan Wiggins.
“I think that was a twelve out of ten ride,” said Thompson."From the outside barrier I think he has gone around one horse. It was an outstanding ride.
“Pretty Pins wasn’t that far off them last time over the mile,” continued Thompson. “This (2000m) is her ideal distance. She has turned the corner since she came back home to Queensland with the warmer weather … and I dare say the blinkers going back on today just switched her on a little bit.
“Today might end up being her Grand Final. We were just looking for that stakes money, but we will just take it one step at a time.
"All credit to my brother Glenn who looks after the stable horses up here. He was quietly confident going into this race. He said she had really been doing well … and, as you see … she looks a picture. We’ve got a very good team up here.”
That was the high.
But the often downside of the Patinack saga still has an impact on the Thompson stable and the latest news in that regard is that an investigation has been opened by Racing NSW into the whereabouts of a number of Patinack Farm-owned racehorses that reportedly left Thompson’s Randwick stables on Monday.
Thompson was informed on the weekend that a number of horses he trains for Patinack would be leaving his Randwick base but he could provide few details beyond that.
"I don’t know that much,” said Thompson. "All I really know is, I have plenty of empty boxes I have to fill now,” was his reported response to his change of circumstances.
Thompson trained horses currently in Queensland were not affected by this latest drama.
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What was it I was saying about Ryan Wiggins always deflecting all praise onto the horse? This was his call on how Pretty Pin’s victory came about. (Remember John Thompson had given him a twelve out of ten mark for the ride).
“The horse did it all himself. I mean, I just sat on it,” Said Wiggins. “It just took me into the race at the right time. She won very nicely.”
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No matter how easily a horse wins a Maiden at the Sunshine Coast, it still takes some leap of faith to believe that it can win a Group 3 race filled with horses from stables such as Waller, Waterhouse and Moody.
But trainer Tony Gollan had that level of faith in Amexed, a lightly raced three-year-old son of Pentire who thus took his place in the Group 3, Rough Habit line-up and, in a pressured finish, that confidence proved justified as Amexed proved too good for his rivals scoring by just under half-a-length from Telepathic under an inch perfect ride from Michael Rodd.
“I’ve never had a Derby horse and he could be one,” said Gollan. “He is very promising three-year-old. I said during the week that you put these well bred horses in the deep end this time of the year … and he certainly swam well here today.
“This is only his seventh start so you have got to think he is going to get better as he goes along. In his first preparation last time we did more than we wanted to with him. He was a very soft horse. He wasn’t a good doer.
"He had a break and he’s come back well this preparation. He’s only third-up 2000m today. There’s still improvement there and we’ll be looking forward to the Derby.”
And jockey Michael Rodd’s assessment of the win?
“It was big jump in grade but Tony seemed pretty confident. The horse just gave me a lovely feel. He is not an overly big horse but he is a lovely mover. He really covers the ground. He switches off beautifully and we just had the perfect run.
“Around about the 600 they just started bunching up and I was able to come from on the fence to three wide and track up. Normally you get sprayed here at Doomben but I managed to come around and close a few gaps and he just accelerated.
“Then, when I had the New Zealand filly (Telepathic) come to the outside of him, I thought she might just have the class and run past but I put the stick away and rode him hands and heels … that’s how much he was giving.
“I did give him a couple of reminders the last 50m, but he is definitely a Derby contender.”
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Amexed win came in race six on the card and, while there was no cigar for the Gollan stable in the BTC Cup (race 7) the Premiership leading trainer was back in the winner’s enclosure soon enough sending Pure Purrfection out to score a hard fought victory in the last race on the card, the Listed Bribie Handicap.
“Yeah, it’s been a really good day,” said Gollan. “We thought we had a strong team in today … but you’ve got to bring strong teams to these meetings. They are bloody strong meetings and it’s hard to win a race.
“I was kicking stones a little bit earlier I guess with a couple of placings … but we are very privileged to have the horses we have in our stable at the moment. These wins today are the result of the last three or four year’s hard work.
“It was a really good run of Pure Purrfection the other day. I stepped her up in grade today but when I saw the field I was very happy because I knew we were going to get a genuine tempo. That’s what she has been looking for. Too many times in the Brisbane races she’ll be back and it will be a sit-sprint race.
“With a genuine tempo today Jimmy Byrne took all the short-cuts on her … got her out at the right time and hit the line hard.”
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Have you ever seen a horse with a faster getaway out of the staring stalls than the Kelly Schweida trained Agitate?
I can’t recall a runner who has made use of this ability as tellingly and as consistently as this really good looking three-year-old son of Sequalo.
Of course the looks and the early speed would all count for nothing if Agitate was unable to sustain a committed effort throughout the running but, for the most part, he has ticked that box as well and his win in the Listed Mick Dittman Plate on Saturday was the fifth time Agitate has saluted in only twelve starts … a pleasing strike rate by any standards.
Trainer Kelly Schweida was particularly pleased with the success of a gear change.
“I really think the tongue-tie made a big difference,” said Schweida. “He’s never worn a tongue-tie before because his form has always been good, but we experimented at track work and his work rider said he’s never gone better.
“When he flew the lids I thought he was going to go a hundred miles an hour but he came back quite good. Everybody knows how good a rider Damian Browne is. Glen Colless (who rode Agitate in his previous start) couldn’t ride him because he had to stick with the Matty Dunn stable (Londohero) and so I was obviously more than happy to have Damian on board.
“The horse was reasonably strong to the line today and I think there is a really nice race in his, but we’ll just take it race by race at this stage.”
Damian Browne enjoyed the ride.
“I haven’t ridden a horse that is quicker out of the barriers than Agitate. He is outstanding out of the barriers. It was lucky I had my seatbelt on otherwise he would have left me behind! He just touched the ground running. He is just a lovely animal.
“Because he cleared them so easy, for a furlong-and-a-half I was able to just nurse him and he came back underneath me for probably 200 or 300m which he really needs to learn to do.
“On the corner, when he started to quicken, I thought he was going to be really hard to run down.”
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Trainer Robert Heathcote opened up his assault on BTC Cup day with a quick double when Magic In Motion and Bewhatyouwannabe took out the first two races on the card.
While neither race was a feature event, these two hammer-blows took Heathcote momentarily to within half-a-win of the Premiership lead but the tide turned towards the end of the day with rival Tony Gollan getting the two wins back when Amexed and Pure Purrfection took out two of the last three races.
Magic In Motion, Heathcote’s contribution to Ryan Wiggin’s storming treble on the day, arguably could have won by a greater margin if the mare had not encountering some traffic problems in the running while a change of tactics (racing closer to the speed) paid off for Bewhatyouwannabe.
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A number of individual trainers might have been confident about their winners beforehand but nobody was able to correctly piece together all of the Quadrella legs.
After this result … Pretty Pins ($26); Amexed ($16); Famous Seamus ($21) and Pure Purrfection ($21) … the pool was carried over.
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