IPSW AUG 20 - LISTEN SON MAKING GOOD PROGESS

By Graham Potter | Monday, August 24, 2009

Ipswich, August 20, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1.5m.
QTIS 3yo Class 2 Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-20.36.
1 Listen Son; 2 African Lion; 3 Silver Assassin.

The Tony Gollan trained Listen Son made it two wins (in succession) from three starts this prep when he completely dominated proceedings to score as he liked at Ipswich on Thursday.

The gelding, with Kristy Banks in the saddle, had his rivals chasing early on and he never let anybody else into the race in the home straight as he quietly proceeded to spread-eagle his field to win by a clear-cut 3.50 lengths, the biggest winning margin on the day.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Tony Gollan: “Yeah, he lost his rider at the start in his first race. There wasn’t a huge amount of options around for him at that time. We took him to town (to Eagle Farm). He ran alright. Then we gave him a spell.

“Come back ... he trialled nicely at Toowoomba, but wasn’t sort of really ready. He went to Ipswich over 1020 and he did a little bit wrong, but still ran on for a pretty nice race. We put him up to 1200m. It was a pretty strong race at Toowoomba that night and he won well and ran good time. So we stepped him up again here to 1350m and he did it again. I wasn’t surprised with the win. He’s going well.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Listen Son): 3.20 out to 3.50.
Favourite (African Lion): 1.28 in to 1.24 out to 1.28. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Silver Assassin (R. Wiggins), which was slow to begin, was further inconvenienced when brushed by First Face (S. Drake), which began awkwardly and shifted in. Approaching the 600m, Whatzahmata (L. Cassidy) shifted out off the heels of Listen Son (K. Banks), forcing Twogundan (M. Hellyer) wider on the track. Whatzahmata had a tendency to hang in throughout the race.

When questioned regarding the performance of African Lion, jockey S. Katsidis stated he was forced to bustle the horse along in the early stages of the event to find a position closer to the fence, and, in his opinion, the gelding was looking for a longer distance than that of today's event. Stewards noted the explanation. A swab sample was taken from African Lion.

A post race veterinary examination of Our Greatmate Kate revealed the filly to be showing signs of mild distress.