LABOUR DAY AT IPSWICH

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 4, 2009

The car park was full at the Labour Day meeting at Ipswich and the racing was almost as keen as the turnout, with only two of the eight races being decided by a margin more than one-and-a-half lengths.

Bobby El-Issa was the only rider to land a double on the day. El-Issa scored for on Colin’s Choice for trainer Stephen Jones and he rounded off the day’s proceedings by getting the Paul Nolan trained Mr Mayfair to the line first in the final event on the card.

Track details for the day were:
Track: Good 3. Rail: Out 6m 1200m-300m. Out 4m remainder. Cutaway rail top of straight.


Race 1:

Class 6 Stayers Cup Plate - 2150m. Time: 2-14.47.
1 Iguazu; 2 Don Vito; 3 Toro Rosso.

The Lawrie Mayfield-Smith trained Iguazu took no prisoners, striding away to a most comfortable win over the favourite Don Vito, who was clearly second best on the day. The was Iguazu’s second, successive win and came as an eye-catching follow-up to his more hard-fought win over less ground (1800m) at the Gold Coast in his previous start.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Iguazu): 3.00 out to 3.80.
Favourite (Don Vito): 2.50 out to 3.10. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Near the 1400m, Iguazu was inclined to over-race when the pace slowed and shifted out three wide from behind the heels of Breaking The Rules and proceeded forward to assume the lead.


Race 2:

3yo QTIS Maiden Plate - 1200m. Time: 1-09.94.
1 Owners Rule; 2 Rapid Magic: 3 Ruling Party.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Tony Gollan: “I just put her straight out after her first run. She was just too immature. Actually, I should never have run her. It was an error. I made a mistake. Yeah, she has made progressive improvement since I brought her back. I probably shouldn’t have run her the first start back. The track was only listed as dead when we left Toowoomba in the morning and ended up being a pretty heavy track. I wouldn’t have run her had I known the track was as wet as it was. There was a bit of controversy about the track rating that day. She progressed from there. She got beaten by a very good horse (Saint Minerva) at Doomben the other day (when finishing second). It ran a class record and they’ve got a bit of an opinion of it - Alan Bailey’s horse. I thought she would be very hard to beat today. We did plan to go to the front today. When you are in the lead you can’t run into trouble can you? I think she will be a lovely filly when I bring her back and we teach her to settle a bit better.”

Apprentice jockey Skye Bogenhuber: “One did try to take me on a bit, but I was pretty confident. She’s got good pace and she is a big filly that likes rolling along and striding out a bit. I knew she was pretty fit today after her other two starts this prep. She was feeling it a little bit at the end. She would feel a bit. They did scoot along early, but she never stopped trying. It was a good effort.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Owners Rule): 3.50 out to 3.80 in to 2.80.
The winner was the favourite.


Race 3:

3yo and up Colts, Geldings and Entires Maiden Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-21.32.
1 Colin’s Choice; 2 Slender Option; 3 Casting.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Jockey Bobby El-Issa: “He is only a beginner in terms of maturity, like he’s still a baby ... pre-school. He’s going to go through his classes, I think. He is a big horse. I put him under pressure 700m out chasing the leader. He just kept finding. I had to get stuck into him the last little bit and he responded again. I think he is going to make a fair horse.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Colin’s Choice): 5.00 out to 6.50.
Favourite (Casting): 1.70 steady. Finished third.


Race 4:

3yo and up Fillies & Mares Maiden Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-21.29.
1 About Eve; 2 Cross Town Traffic, 3 Its Showtime Folks.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Howard Wilson: “She was barred before I got her. She had to have three official trials, but because of the wet weather, she had five trials. She completed them at the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. They wouldn’t let her start until she had three official trials. She had five weeks break. I knew I could fix here ... and that’s what I’ve done. It was a chiropractic problem. I fixed it, I said to them ... I said to the Stewards ... if she ever bucks again, I’ll give up training. I was that confident. That is the second one I fixed. Then I started her. She ran third. Then she finished second twice. This was a big win today. She’ll probably run a mile.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (About Eve): 3.00 out to 4.40.
Favourite (Cross Town Traffic): 3.00 out to 3.20. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
After missing the start, Cross Town Traffic (G. Geran) had to be steadied from the heels of Smartness (M. Hughes) near the 1200m and for some distance the horse then refused to settle.


Race 5:

Class 3 Handicap - 800m. Time: 44.88.
1 Eagle Jester; 2 Crazy Woman; 3 Rhodamine.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Philip Pengelly: “He had a few little problems early in the piece this horse. We seem to have overcome them. Well, he actually had a bad accident as a foal, which has affected him. That’s why I’ve kept him to the short races. But we’ll just keep him around the short distances. He ran into Nicolo Sequalo twice, and he was just too good for this horse. But he has got speed and he can run a time as we saw today.”

Tony Pattillo: “We were running ... I’m not one-hundred percent certain about that last split (referring to the 31.68 last 600m sectional time). We definitely were running strongly and I really like the way the horse finished the race off. I thought it was a sensational run. He’s definitely got a lot of wins ahead of him.”
One of the keenest observers of the fifth race was jockey Brad Pengelly. He was very happy with his father’s success and cautiously optimistic about his own rate of progress. Pengelly has been out of action for some time as a result of injuries suffered in a fall at Ipswich.

Brad Pengelly: “Yeah, I’m getting there. I’m seeing my doctor on Friday and he’ll let me know then, but I’m hoping to be back racing in two Saturday’s time (May 16).

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Eagle Jester): 2.50 out to 3.30 in to 3.20.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Jockey A. Pattillo, rider of Eagle Jester, was found guilty of a charge of careless riding, in that leaving the 500m he rode in a careless manner, in that he permitted his mount to shift in onto the running of Our Special Star, resulting in that horse clipping the heels of Eagle Jester and blundering. A. Pattillo was suspended from riding in races for a period covered by 8 meetings, to commence at midnight, 9 May and to expire at midnight, 21 May 2009.


Race 6:

Class 1 Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-10.50.
1 Pleasure Time; 2 Fleet ‘n’ Fast; 3 A Touch Of Frost.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Jeffrey Caught: “This is his first start for me. I went to Sydney in search of horses. I had six picked out to buy. All the others I looked at had something wrong with them. He was clean. There was nothing wrong with him. He is a bit of a looker and he was just standing there quietly in his box. So that was it. I didn’t really do any form. I had a friend in Rocky, Neil Boyle, I had him do all the form for me before we come to the sales. I had a heap picked out which I’d done all the form on. I hadn’t done anything on him. So I got him to do all the form. It come up not too bad. I did bid on another one that went too dear ... and he was the next one. It’s all luck.

“When I bought him at the sale, he had already had about eight weeks in the paddock. I just brought him in and worked him up. I just kept bringing him up and he was doing everything right. His previous few runs were pretty ordinary. I couldn’t find anything wrong with him ... and I was scouring him. People sell a tried horse ... you think there must be something wrong with him. I couldn’t find anything when he came to me and he has done nothing wrong ever since. He won a jump-out on Tuesday at Doomben and I thought he was a good chance today. But when he drew outside, you know, first-up with the weight, he had it all to do, but we just had to take out chances.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Pleasure Time): 15.00 out to 17.00.
Favourite (Duke Of Danes): 3.50 in to 2.90. Finished tenth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of Duke Of Danes, D. Green stated that the horse over-raced on various occasions throughout the race. He added that the horse also raced ungenerously today in contrast to its last start, and the horse did not respond to his riding when asked for an effort from the 400m.


Race 7:

Class 6 Sprinters Cup Plate (Set weights) - 1200m. Time: 1-09.57.
1 Lady Showheart; 2 Southerly Impact; Spanish Fling.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Kevin Kemp: “I just said to Kenji (Yoshida), you’ve had two eleven barriers today. You’ve rode them bad - both of them. I said, do something different. It’s a chance ... a big chance to win it. Luckily, he got in, one out two back ... just unreal. The finish was fantastic. I thought she got beat, but I was very pleased with the photo-finish result. I was thankful they had one.”
Kemp also gave further insight with regard to another winner he had over the weekend at Ipswich. That was at the Saturday meeting where a son of Lonhro, Whims Of Fortune, who was also ridden by Kenji Yoshida, demolished his rivals by 3.50 lengths in an eye-catching debut performance.

Kevin Kemp: “Ron Gilbert from Highgrove Stud gave him to me about three or four months ago and just said, see what you can do with him. John Hawkes had him. He really liked the horse. He is actually a half-brother to a mare in Sydney who is running places and everything. So he is a lovely horse. I didn’t even trial him, but I galloped him a couple of times with some good little horses ... and yeah, he did well enough.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Lady Showheart): 26.00 steady.
Favourite (Leondari On Ice): 2.50 out to 3.10. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Near the 900m, Socialist (K. Banks) and Barclays (J. Taylor) both raced in restricted room to the inside of Silken Appeal. A short distance later, Born To Hunt (M. Hellyer) shifted in away from Under Construction (B. Stewart) and as a result made contact with the hind quarters of Silken Appeal, forcing that horse in on to Barclays and Socialist, which had to be checked and lost ground. At a subsequent inquiry, stewards were unable to attribute full blame to any particular rider, however B. Stewart, rider of Under Construction, B. El-Issa, rider of Silken Appeal and apprentice M. Hellyer, rider of Born To Hunt, were each instructed to exercise more care in similar circumstances.

Passing the 700m, Leondari On Ice (T. Chambers) had to be checked when racing in restricted room to the inside of Anachelle (B. Evans), which shifted in away from Southerly Impact (J. Letherby). At a subsequent inquiry, whilst stewards established that Anachelle and Southerly Impact were racing in close proximity, B. Evans, rider of Aanchelle, was nonetheless severely reprimanded and instructed to exercise more care in similar circumstances.


Race 8:

Class 3 Plate (Set weights) - 1680m. Time: 1-42.71.
1 Mr Mayfair; 2 Another Speights; 3 Dorado Beach.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Paul Nolan: “He hates wet tracks this horse which is what has been going wrong. I proved a point. I took him to Chinchilla and we got a beautiful track out there - and he bolted in. He’s done the same thing here today, because it’s a good track, you know. He had pole position today and that always helps. You can guarantee that. There’s is only one alley to get and that’s number one. Yeah, we stepped up in distance. He went from 1400m ... I’ve always said he would get a mile. There is no risk, he didn’t get it, but I think when they get a mile like that, I think they will get 2000m too.

“Bobby (El-Issa) rode him a treat too, don’t worry about that. When he missed the kick ... he’s a bugger see ... he misses the kick and then he thinks he hasn’t got to do anymore, but Bobby was up him with the whip and got him going. By the time Bobby came to the finish, he had time to look to look around.”

Jockey Bobby El-Issa (who completed a double on the day): “He’s a nice horse. Paul’s told me he’s got a lot of promise, but he’s been getting wet tracks. He’s a bit of thinker. He sat in the gates, but I put him under a hard ride.”

Mr Mayfair always seemed to have Another Speights (the well supported favourite) covered as these two runners had the race to themselves over the final 200m - and so it proved with the Paul Nolan trained runner asserting his authority late in the running to come home with a bit to spare.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Mr Mayfair): 13.00 out to 14.00
Favourite (Another Speights): 3.00 in to 2.40. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Crimson Fire (R. Goltz) and Mr Mayfair (B. El-Issa) each stood flatfooted at the start and lost valuable ground.

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