IPSWICH FEBRUARY 25: CONSISTENCY REWARDED AS GRANTLY MISS STRIKES AT IPSWICH

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, February 25, 2015

WINNER: GRANTLY MISS (5 b m Waterford Road - Fragrantly).
Fillies And Mares Rating Band Handicap 0-70 – 1350m.
Track: Soft 7
Time 1:21.67 (carrying 56 kg); Last 600m: 36.60.
Second: Silver Trinket; Third: She’s A Danika
Won by 1.50 lengths at a starting price of $4.20.

Grantly Miss had already raced ten times in this preparation but the fact that she came to Ipswich with a form-line that boasted two wins, two runner-up finishes and a third placing in her last five starts spoke volumes of her own keenness to get on with the job and her trainer’s touch in keeping that enthusiasm alive.

The race didn’t quite go according to plan when Grantly Miss was outpaced early. Suddenly she was to a large degree in unknown territory racing in the second half of the field. Would she be intimidated racing in the middle of the pack, or would that only harden her resolve to compete?

The answer to that question still hung very much in the air at the turn where Grantly Miss was still all of six lengths off the free-running She’s A Danika, but connections of Grantly Miss didn’t have to wait much longer to find out their fate on the day.

When She’s A Danika kicked away to a four length lead early in the straight, it looked like, at best, Grantly Miss could be in a chase for the minor placings and that aspiration remained in place for the first half of the straight in which Grantly Miss held her ground, albeit seemingly too far back to threaten.

But no race is over until it is over.

By the 150m Grantly Miss was gathering momentum. She had moved into second place but she was still four adrift of She’s A Danika. That, for all intents and purposes, was going to be the finishing order until Grantly Miss really changed gears and, with She’s A Danika unable to respond after her stout early effort, Grantly Miss surged to the front to take out an emphatic victory.

WINNER FEEDBACK:

TRAINER BRAD SMITH:

“She‘s by Waterford Road so she’s always shown that she’s really enjoyed a wet track. The few goes she’s had on it ... she ran a very lucky second one day at Eagle Farm midweek ... I think it was a heavy 10. So every time we’ve sort of got one eye out on the rain for her.

“So that definitely already ticked one box when we arrived at Ipswich with the rain affected track. That combined with the good draw and the fact she was right in the right grade against her own sex with a good claim, off the top down to 56kg ... although she rose 5kg ... made the difference.

“She pulled up a little bit big after her last start at the Gold Coast. I was a bit easy on her going into that. She was three weeks in-between runs going from a mile back to 1400.

"She did have to so a bit of work there, She was slow away, worked hard to lead after taking the field up to the tearaway and only got run down late.

“I just about always had claiming apprentices on, not by any real design, and got here very low down in the weights.

“The way she got a little bit further back was a bit of a surprise but, with the way this race panned out, I was so pleased with the way she finished the race off from behind. She’s never been in a position to do that before, so it was a bit of an unknown.

"I half thought on the corner she might go out the back door, but happily the reverse applied and she just came on so strong.

“They did go a bit fast for her early. She jumped well but they did beat her for pace. I did keep the work right up to her in-between with a view to what happened the start before so I probably trained a bit of speed out of her. The 1350m is probably the shortest she’s gone too for a good while ... so we did learn something new.

Being able to do that adds another string to her bow ... and Matt (McGillivray) said she only got going when he put a couple behind her tail.

“She does give an overall impression that she is a bit of a one-pacer, but she showed here what she can do when she really knuckles down. I wish I could have a stable full of horses like here.

“She is just all racehorse. She doesn’t spell well at all that’s why she’s had so many runs.

“About three weeks sees her out and then she stands by the gate and sulks all day. She’s learnt to kick the gate. So we’ve sort of got to send her to places where she has two weeks in the paddock and a week on the water-walker where they put her out during the day and bring her back into the stable at night so that it looks like she is back in the racing atmosphere.

"I guess we try to con her a little bit.

“That’s where she is headed now.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:

ROMAN SILVER - Slow to begin. Raced three wide throughout

SILVER TRINKET - Slow to begin.

DON'T TELL CYRIL - A post-race veterinary examination revealed no significant findings. Jockey S. Galloway will be interviewed on Saturday regarding the horse's performance.

Find out more about the winning trainer:
Bradley Smith

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