EF SEPT 12 - HEART OF THE CITI SHOWS HIS CLASS

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Monday, September 14, 2009

Eagle Farm, September 12, 2009.
Open Handicap - 1400m. Time: 1-22.77.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3m.
1 Heart Of The Citi; 2 Pertinence; 3 Sneaky Long.

The Pat Duff trained Heart Of The Citi showed his class when landing a clinical if unspectacular victory to take his stake earnings past the $850000 mark.

Heart Of The Citi landed in the lead, but then settled just off the speed as Sneaky Long pushed forward and crossed to the rail to take up the running and Sommersea Drive also went up to be prominent sitting three wide.

This front-running group held station until the turn. The one horse gap between Sneaky Long and Sommersea Drive looked to be a tempting opening for Heart Of The Citi on straightening, but that option was fraught with risk so apprentice jockey Michael Hellyer instead elected to switch out around the heels of Sommerseas Drive in order to allow Heart Of The Citi an uninterrupted run to the line.

Once in full stride, the grey was always going better than Sneaky Long and Sommersea Drive and the five-year-old gradually took the measure of the early frontrunners under a well judged ride. He did have to survive a late scare as Pertinence flashed up late, but Heart Of The Citi had done enough to secure the result and take out the seventh win of his career.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Pat Duff: “I don’t think he has come back probably as good a horse as I hoped he would do, but he’s still a handy horse you know what I man. He’s not a Stradbroke horse.

“I think today he probably didn’t look totally impressive because of the fact they were getting to him, but he is a horse I think will be a better mid-summer type horse because he is the type of horse that doesn’t exert himself on the track. I think he is a horse that can race himself fitter.

“I liken him to a lot to a horse I had many, many years ago called Handsome Prince. Handsome Prince would come out and win these races by a neck or a length to half-length and you’d think well, I’m not sure about next time. He’d come out next time and do the same thing. This one is also similar to Handsome Prince in the way he comes out of the barriers. Remember Handsome Prince used to come out of that gate and be straight into the box seat. This is the type of horse Heart Of The Citi is.

“Horses like that make their own luck and it’s a great thing for horses who can make their own luck in a race. He may have one more run then I just freshen him up and I’ll go to the Magic Millions Cup and at Christmas time the first couple of weeks of the Triple Crown and just go from there.

I think he (Michael Hellyer) rode the horse every intelligently. We came out with a plan to go forward a bit but obviously didn’t turn it into a speed battle. It was a nice ride. Michael has been with me for about six months now. I’ve had several leading apprentices ... Mick Dittman, Pelling, Byrne, Radecker ... and this will be another one.”

Apprentice jockey Michael Hellyer: “Look, Pat (Duff) wanted me to hunt him out and possibly lead. He said f something wanted to take him on ... let him. One of them did (Sneaky Long). I sort of kept attacking early to let Sneaky Long do a bit more. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sommersea Drive, one off. I thought I’d let Sneaky Long go and then once it crosses I’ll peel one off and put the second favourite three deep ... and I just had a beautiful run the rest of the way.

“I elected to go around then when I made my run. He’s a tough little horse ... like he would go through the gap, but why go through a gap and risk not getting a run when I could peel out with no dramas, give him plenty of room and again have no dramas in the run down the straight.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Heart Of The Citi): 3.10 out to 3.60.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Sneaky Long (L. Rolls) blundered on jumping away. Passing the 1200m, Sommersea Drive (M. Hughes) got its head up and was inclined to over-race.

When questioned regarding the performance of Buzzy Henry, A. Pattillo stated that he elected to position the horse behind Sommersea Drive shortly after the start and when positioning the horse it got its head up, however from that point onwards, Buzzy Henry seemed to travel well until straightening. He added that when asked for an effort the horse did not respond to his riding, not finishing the race off as expected. A. Pattillo also felt that the horse may be better suited being stepped up in distance.

Trainer P. Duff stated that he had added blinkers for today's race, however he could not offer any explanation for the horse's performance today. Mr Duff undertook to report to stewards any abnormality that becomes apparent which may have had a bearing on today's performance.