EF AUG 26 - PROTEST DISMISSED

By Graham Potter | Friday, August 28, 2009

Trainer Lawrie Mayfield-Smith added another winner to his name when he turned Rhodes To Glory out in winning fettle in the gelding’s first run for the stable. He had to win it twice though - once on the track and once in the Stewards Room.

Eagle Farm, August 26, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 10m.
Maiden Handicap- 1400m. Time: 1-24.45.
1 Rhodes To Glory; 2 Brave The Way; 3 Redesign.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Lawrie Mayfield-Smith: “They sent him up to me ... the same connections that have got Linear sent him up. There were no dry tracks down there. He came up about three months ago. I’m thinking he’ll get better as he gets over a bit of ground.”

Apprentice jockey Luke Rolls: “I’ve had a lot of luck with him (Lawrie Mayfield-Smith). Yeah, everything basically turned out to plan. We wanted him to be ridden a bit quieter than we did. He began so well I had to just ease him over to the fence. I drifted out a little bit in the straight to get away from the rail ... but he had them covered.”

The decision on the outcome of the race then moved into the Stewards Room after Jockey Damian Browne, rider of the second placed Brave The Way, lodged a protest against the winner.

Jockey Damian Browne (stating the reason for his protest): “At approximately 140m ... 150m from the post the winner’s rolled in, quite significantly. I was just behind him at that stage and coming quite quickly. As he’s rolled in I come to his outer. As we’ve got inside the 100 this horse (the winner) has again rolled out a good horse to a horse-and-a-half ... taking my line. As I say I was coming quite quickly.

“I haven’t been able to fully extend my horse. I think, given that the margin is a long-neck or maybe half-a-length ... had he kept a straight line I think I win the race. I’ve had to move out with him. He was dictating to me."

Apprentice jockey Luke Rolls (making his statement): “I believe that not at any stage did I drift in. I believe that jockey Browne had the chance of taking a run on the inside of me, but he’s elected to come outside of me. I do believe my one did shift out. Jockey Browne didn’t have to stop riding his mount and I don’t believe he would have made the ground up on me.”

Browne (questioning Roll’s statement): “You agree you did shift out?”

Rolls: “I did shift out a fraction, but you never had to stop riding your horse. You were always ... from the moment, before I even shifted out, you were always angling out ... and you haven’t stopped riding.”

Stewards then posed a question to Browne: “Jockey Browne ... one question. How much ground do you believe it has cost you?”

Browne: “My horse is finishing that powerfully ... um, it could be anything from a length-and-a-half ... certainly a length anyway. It could be as much as a length-and-a-half.”

Stewards: “You saying that cost you a length-and-a-half?”

Browne: “I think it will show from just how fast I was finishing prior to the incident ... I was coming that quick I was probably going to win the race by a length-and-a-half. That’s why I decided to come to the outside and the incident has cost me momentum in keeping my horse balanced. As I say, I think I would have won by a length-and-a-half. If he kept a straight line and I’m on the outside of him, I win the race."

Alan Bailey (trainer of Brave The Way): “I just think what Damian (Browne) said ... I think he’s pretty right. If the other horse had kept a straight line I think our horse would have probably won the race for sure. He came out at least a horse-and-a-half. Our horse was coming pretty quickly and with a clear run to the line he probably would have got there."

Rolls: “Just as I said ... Damian Brown’s mount was right behind mine. He had the option to take the inside run. Even if mine has forced him to shift, I believe it was too late. He wouldn’t have made it there in time.”

Lawrie Mayfield-Smith: “From my observations I think jockey Browne had already elected to go around my bloke, before he even shifted. Whether it was a combination of him wanting to go out there or the horse half wanting to get out himself ... you can see before Rhodes To Glory shifts out, his head is turned to the outside and heading for a passage out there ... and then the seas open up inside.”

The protest was dismissed.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Rhodes To Glory): 9.00 steady.
Favourite (Silent Movie): 3.50 out to 3.70. Finished fourth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
On return to scale a protest was lodged by jockey D. Brown, rider of the 2nd placegetter, Brave The Way, against Rhodes To Glory (L. Rolls) being declared the winner, alleging interference over the final 100m. After hearing evidence from the riders and connections, the protest was dismissed. In dismissing the protest, stewards were satisfied that whilst Rhodes To Glory had shifted ground under pressure, bearing in mind the margin between the relevant horses and proximity of the incident, stewards dismissed the objection and correct weight was semaphored on the Judge's placings.

Sabre Vite (M. Hellyer) was slow to begin. Dolphin Quest (A. Erhart) jumped away awkwardly. Indeseado (S. Katsidis) jumped inwards at the start and bumped Drawn To Dubai (J. Byrne). Passing the 200m, Lonesome Tycoon (R. Goltz) shifted out from behind the heels of Redesign (L. Cassidy), forcing Drawn To Dubai (J. Byrne) out on to Brave The Way (D. Browne). Near the 100m, Silent Movie (C. Reith) was taken wider on the track when Brave The Way shifted out to improve to the outside of Rhodes To Glory.

Stewards questioned jockey D. Browne in company with trainer A. Bailey as to his tactics on Brave The Way in the straight, in particular his decision to attempt to take a run to the outside of Rhodes To Glory when a run appeared between Drawn To Dubai (J. Byrne) and Rhodes To Glory. D. Browne stated that when his mount was inconvenienced near the 200m, he shifted outwards slightly and at that stage he was some distance back behind the heels of Rhodes To Glory and he made a decision then to shift to the outside of Rhodes To Glory, however he did not anticipate Rhodes To Glory shifting ground which resulted in a gap between Drawn To Dubai and Rhodes To Glory. He added at the time a run opened he had committed himself to shift to the outside. The explanation was noted.