SONY LEGEND BOUNCES BACK TO BEST FORM

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 16, 2016

CRISCON COMMERCIAL + INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION CLASS 6 – 1110m:

WINNER: SONY LEGEND (5 ch g Hard Spun – Lasers).
Track: Good (4) Time: 1:03.31 Sectional Time Last 600m: 0:33.87.

Trainer Brian Smith has a simple training philosophy. He wants his horses to relax and hit the line hard and when a Smith plan comes together it normally follows that tried and tested formula ... as was the case here when Sony Legend’s strong, sustained finishing effort saw him claim his fifth career victory.

Another Whiskey ($2,88) and Freeze The Charges ($3.75) dominated the betting. The former was bidding for three-in-a-row while the visitor, Freeze The Charges, was handled with caution after some reasonable showings in Sydney.

Sony Legend, for his part, was the rank outsider of the nine runners in a field which had been decimated by six scratchings. He started at $21 following a seemingly ordinary effort at the Gold Coast last time and a close-up, runner-up finish at Beaudesert in his penultimate start.

It was a keen start with no less than six horses spread across the track after the field had travelled 100m. Paul Hammersley took Sony Legend back behind that wall of horses, tactically electing not to go anywhere near the speed battle in the early part.

In fact, with the speed on, the duo went back to second last, some seven to eight lengths off the freewheeling Freeze The Charges up front. The leader took a slight breather on the approach to the turn and the backmarkers moved closer so that on straightening Sony Legend was only four lengths adrift of the lead, but he still had a wall of horses in front of hm.

Hammersley positioned Sony Legend right on the back of Another Whiskey at the top of the straight hoping that would would take him into the race, but then Sony Legend closed up too quickly on the favourite. His head went sideways as he was restrained and the incident cost him a stride or two but then there was suddenly daylight to the outside of Another Whiskey and Sony Legend needed no second asking.

Just as Another Whiskey took the measure of Freeze The Charges, so too did Sony Legend sprint quickly to take over from Another Whiskey with 150m left to run... but the race was not won yet.

Invitations ($13), who was last on straightening and who, like Sony Legend, was slightly inconvenienced when looking for run, rattled home late.

For a moment it looked like the Kris Lees trained runner might have had winning momentum but, with Sony Legend showing great resolve and Invitations run peaking late, it was the Smith runner who got home with 0.20 lengths to spare.

WINNER FEEDBACK:

TRAINER BRIAN SMITH:

“He has had no luck. He needs the pace on. He does a few things wrong. There’s been no pace in some of his races ... he’s over-raced.

“I just love Paul Hammersley. The way he lets the horses just settle. He doesn’t panic.

“When he dug the horse up coming to the 600 he just pounded on the bit ... and that was a smart field he was racing against.

“We’ve been working hard the last three weeks through difficulties with the help of the club to be able to get enough work into these horses so that they can have a chance to win races at the carnival and it’s marvellous when they do that.

“You know originally we were going to go to the Gold Coast today or Ipswich next week but we couldn’t believe it when six of the horses pulled out of this race, so we cane here.

“If you are not in it you can’t win it.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:

Stewards accepted the explanation tendered by trainer B. Smith for the late declaration of P. Hammersley as the rider of SONY LEGEND.

I AM BOSS – Hung out rounding the home turn. Lost the off-fore plate in running.

UPSTART PRIDE – Slow to begin.

LADY JETSETTER – Apprentice S. Fawke said that he had to make use of the mare in the early stages, however when taken on by FREEZE THE CHARGES, the mare appeared to resent racing inside other runners. He was of the view that when he placed the mare under pressure in the straight, it weakened badly and was most disappointing. He added that the early quick tempo may have had a detrimental effect on the horse’s finishing effort. Trainer L. Birchley advised that the horse would now be sent for an immediate spell.

SONY LEGEND – When questioned regarding the horse’s seemingly improved performance, trainer B. Smith stated that at its previous start the gelding met with some difficulty at a crucial stage of the race and was not that disappointing, beaten only 4 lengths.

SAMMI JAIN – Apprentice C. Dell lost the use of his offside rein inside the final 200m.

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