7 DAYS (THE WEDNESDAY REPORT): JUNE 11 - JUNE 17 THE IPSWICH CUP DAY WRAP

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Tony Gollan’s already stellar carnival didn’t miss a beat at Ipswich on Cup day.

The stable annexed both the Eye Liner Stakes and the Ipswich Cup with Alma’s Fury and Brave Ali respectively. While the margin of victory in these two races differed by a relatively comfortable margin, both were extremely hard-earned wins, with the competitive will and race-hard fitness of both the Gollan combatants standing as testimony to the deft, fine tuning touch of a trainer clearly on the march.

In the Eye Liner Alma’s Fury ended up in a dog-fight with the Chris Waller trained Masthead over the final 150m. In fact, given the way that Masthead closed on Alma’s Fury soon after the latter had claimed the lead halfway up the straight, arriving at speed, it seemed that the Waller runner would simply waltz past Alma’s Fury, but, Alma’s Fury was in no mood to lie down at that crucial stage of the running.

As the Gollan runner kicked on with meaning, suddenly the pressure switched back onto Masthead who, while game enough to stay with the eventual winner, did not pull out enough to get past Alma’s Fury.

Whether that tendency of getting into a winning position and not finishing the job is a flaw in Masthead’s makeup or whether it was just Alma’s Fury’s superior strength on the day is a moot question. Either way, the result stays the same.

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While several young guns are making their way up the jockeys ranks in quite a hurry, it is often a feature race day that brings out the best in a seasoned rider and it is always good to see a quality rider reaffirming his rightful, prominent place in the riding landscape, particularly on a feature race day … as was the case with Jim Byrne at Ipswich.

Alma’s Fury was one of three winners for Jimmy Byrne on the day. Byrne describes that narrow Eye Liner victory.

“My bloke, when he burst through, he actually started waiting around a bit because he shot through pretty quickly,” said Byrne. “Masthead really came at me and I just had to try and keep the bridle in his mouth so he could actually notice the other horse a little bit.

“My bloke kicked and Masthead may have hit his peak at the 50m but it was all to my bloke’s credit. He had to pick up the 59kg (Masthead received 2.5kg from Alma’s Fury) and sprint all the way to the line.

“The longer Alma’s Fury goes through its prep it obviously starts to get a bit more dour. It had a break of nearly three months before his first up run for the Gollan stable the other day (when finishing seventh, two lengths behind Sacred Star in the QTC Cup) so we were always anticipating the horse still being able to sprint in this run … and he’ll only be going third-up into the Glasshouse, in his next scheduled start, so again he should be able to sprint well.”

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Byrne also took out the Gai Waterhouse Classic aboard the Mick Price trained Jazz Song as well as the opening race on the card aboard the Matthew Dunn trained La Tikka Rosa.

“Jazz Song’s form speaks for itself,” explained Byrne. “She’s had good form all the way through our winter where she’s been running some great races. She’s just had a bit of bad luck in that she wasn’t able to pick herself up and let down until late in the races.

“At Ipswich I was making sure I was going forward passing the 600, so I could wind her up coming to the 450. She was probably on her wrong leg coming around the turn. Getting around Ipswich they tend to want to get in a little when you starting to put them to the sword, so yeah, she did want to get in a little bit in the straight … but it was her race to win.

“She only really got going late behind Sir Moments in the Guineas so it was a really good run that day and she’s just built on that. She was taking on the older horses at Ipswich but, to me, she just ticked every box for the race and produced that good effort.

“I was a little bit concerned when Griante got to the front from her wide draw early. I knew she wasn’t going to be going too quickly. Sure enough, she was able to slow them down there after the 1000 and thereafter coming on to the three she still hadn’t spent too much petrol there so, I’ve got to say, Griante got a good couple of soft sections.

“I did think then that she was probably going to kick a bit too strongly if I didn’t get going on my horse. Cuddlesome was just covering me up a bit and I was able to jump onto her back and she gave me a really good cart into it and when I started winding Jazz Song up she really did let down strongly.”

And Byrne’s comments on La Tikka Rosa?

“It was the first time I’d ridden La Tikka Rosa.

“Out of her last four starts, in three of them she has just had no joy at all. So her form probably doesn’t read as being that impressive. Here, there was always speed in the race and it looked like it could pan out well for us and sure enough it did.

“Lucky Baa gave me a really good run into the race. Coming into the straight I was able to just peel off her back and La Tikka Rosa just let down far too strongly for any of the opposition.”

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The other headline act of the day was that of Tegan Harrison.

Where most other female apprentices over time have found themselves facing a precipice after outriding their claim or completing their apprenticeship, Harrison has, and continues to carry all before her as she climbs the mountain to firmly buck that precipice trend and set new standards of accomplishment for others that might follow.

The Ipswich Cup was no Group 1, no level of elite victory that Harrison came so agonisingly close to achieving aboard Temple Of Boom in the Doomben 10 000 and the Stradbroke … but this Listed success was a still a win to savour as it came on the back of a great ride aboard a horse that showed tremendous courage.

The Tony Gollan trained Brave Ali and Tegan Harrison have forged a telling partnership. They had only had their colours lowered once in four starts going into the Ipswich Cup and they extended that record via another, committed front-running effort.

And I mean committed!

Harrison didn’t blink when Grey Assignment moved up to challenge early and apply pressure to try and get Brave Ali out of his comfort zone. She elected to have faith that Brave Ali would outlast the grey … and that’s how that challenge panned out.

Once Brave Ali had the better of Grey Assignment the battle was still not over. The relatively short straight can suddenly grow in length when your horse is in front and Brave Ali still had to maintain sufficient momentum to ensure that all swoopers would be kept at bay … and he did just that to the absolute credit of both horse and rider.

Four out of five now for the Brave Ali / Tegan Harrison partnership and few will bet against them extending that record when Gollan decides on Brave Ali’s next assignment … whether it be Caloundra or Grafton.

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If there is a better marketing opportunity than Tegan Harrison to help put a smile on the face of racing in Queensland than I have yet to find it.

Her mix of talent, achievement and demeanour provides a perfect showcasing opportunity to help attract young people … let me repeat that … ‘young people’ into the game (and we all know how badly they are needed in this industry).

Let’s hope something is made of that opportunity.

This was Harrison’s view of Brave Ali’s run in the Ipswich Cup.

“I’ve ridden the horse a fair bit now and he has led every time I have won on him so that’s where he is most comfortable. I’ve ridden him five times now for four wins and a third … and when he ran third in the Group 3 he was probably at that borderline point that he’d had enough. That’s why Tony (Gollan) opted to give him a little freshen up and bring him back for these races he has picked out for him.

“The only concern was having that time in-between runs (it was five weeks since Brave Ali’s third in the Chairman’s Handicap) and getting attacked a bit early (by Grey Assignment).

"I was worried whether my horse would be fit enough to run the race out solidly, but he’s run it out that strong that Tony has obviously done a terrific job because he didn’t have a lot of time to get him ready for this race after giving the horse a bit of time off.

“I did stay on the rail in straight which was probably contrary to the pattern of the day but I never doubted that I was in the right spot for one moment.

“The horse goes well on the wet tracks and anything that is a bit shifty so, because the track was a little bit soft, for a horse like that, it didn’t matter that much for him to be able to get to the best going because he likes that rough sort of going. So that wasn’t a problem racing there for this particular horse.

“That worked in our favour because we were able to save ground by staying on the fence and I knew he was going to get through it strongly.

“I’ve got to give credit to Jessica Drury as well. She got me on the horse initially when Craig Martin brought the horse to Brisbane (in the run before it moved to the Gollan stable).

"I’ve never ridden for Craig before and she told me to give Craig a ring. She said, ‘get on this horse,’ He put me on and she called me the morning of the race and said, he’s really good in front. If you can’t get in front maybe just sit behind them but you have got to get going because he is one-paced.

“Her instructions … exactly how to ride him … were, ‘You actually have to dig him out the gate. He won’t just get there easy. You have to dig him out. Then you’ve got to hold him for as long as you can in front. Then take off on him … and that’s how I’ve been riding him ever since.

“So credit to Jessica. It obviously works for that horse. She knows her horses very well.”

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Other winners at Ipswich:

Robert Heathcote saddled a stable double striking with Pinch River and Olympic Anthem in the two QTIS events on the card (for two-year-olds and three-year-olds). Neither horse was eligible for the QTIS bonus. Pinch River (Aidan Holt), who came from just off the speed to land a knockout blow in a pressurised finish, is now a four-time winner from only seven starts while the smart chestnut Olympic Anthem, who overcame a very wide barrier draw, is now a three-time winner from ten starts.

Jockey Michael Cahill, who partnered Olympic Anthem to victory in the last race on the card also landed a personal double. His earlier win had come aboard the Bevan Laming trained The Inventor, who took out the Provincial Cup Handicap.

The longest priced winner on the day was the Mark Goodwin trained Jack ‘N’ Me who won the Ipswich Mile at a starting price of $17. Goodwin is based in Chinchilla and his decision to raise the bar for his now fifteen-time winner really paid dividends as the son of Zariz not only landed the odds but did so in authoritative fashion.

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