EF SEPT 05 - PAPAL JOY SCORES AGAIN

By Graham Potter | Monday, September 7, 2009

Eagle Farm, September 5, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1m.
NMW Handicap - 1600m. Time: 1-37.72.
1 Papal Joy; 2 Outer Pole; 3 Just A Classic.

The Brian Wakefield stable has been running into form recently. Papal Joy scored as a well-supported favourite at Ipswich last time out and the mare duly obliged again at Eagle Farm to claim back to back wins.

Jockey Michael Cahill was content to let the four-year-old lope along towards the rear of the field in the early part. Papal Joy had closed the gap on the leaders by the turn and then just needed to angle out marginally into clear running to get a shot at the leaders. Once in clean galloping room, Cahill urged Papal Joy forward and she responded on cue, moving up to challenge with the minimum of fuss before comprehensively outsprinting all opposition over the last 150m to win with something in hand.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Brian Wakefield: “The way they were racing today it looked like you had to be up there on the lead, but you’ve just got to ride horses the way they like to be ridden. Otherwise you know ... we’ve been working hard to undo the way she has been racing, so you don’t want to bring yourself undone again. If anyone can get her to relax it’s this fellow (Michael Cahill).

“She was owed that win in town. She raced very well without breaking through in town in her three-year-old year. She is a horse that’s always probably wanted the mile but she’s needed to learn how to race properly before getting it. We did probably aim her a little bit high during the Carnival, but she did have a few things go wrong in preparation for that. But, you know, she’s always given us the opinion that the further they go the better she is going to be. With the good pace on today everything went according to plan.

“She’s a lovely, athletic filly and she’s always been a fantastic type all the way through, but she’s just needed that time to just sort of strengthen and harden. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her anyway. At this stage with the good pace in the mile races ... somewhere around there ... it suits her distance-wise. Eventually she probably will go over more ground but, at this stage, we will probably keep her to the mile, or possibly nine furlongs.”

Jockey Michael Cahill: “I had a good run. There was pace on which suited her and she just kept getting stronger. I sort of tracked Larry Cassidy (Dell Amby) into the race ...sort of got out at about the three ... never really had to put the pedal right to the floor with her. She had the race won, or she felt as if she did, as soon as we straightened. I didn’t really have to do much on her. She responded well to light riding and she had them covered. It was a pretty comfortable win. If she can keep on improving a bit she might win a few more here on a Saturday.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Papal Joy): 4.60 out to 5.00.
Favourite (Tarrayoukhan): 3.60 out to 4.60.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Sirena Ligera (M. Speers) jumped outwards at the start, bumping Papal Joy (M. Cahill). Ram Jam Inn (O. Turpin) was caught three wide on the first turn and raced three wide for the majority of the race.

Stewards questioned L. Cassidy as to him returning to scale overweight on Dell Amby. However due to mitigating circumstances, no action was taken.