IPSW SEPT 17 - ELSQUARE BACK IN WINNING MODE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, September 19, 2009

Ipswich, September 17, 2009.
Track - Good. Rail - out 7.5m.
Class 2 Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-21.03.
1 Elsquare; 2 Hawkeye Pierce; 3 My Toy Boy.

Elsquare went into the race with several gear changes and, somewhere in that mix, it did the trick as the five-year-old scored a well-judged win to take his race record to three wins from nine starts.

Jockey Paul Hammersley positioned Elsquare in second place until the turn where he pushed the gelding forward to join issue with the front-running My Toy Boy. The two matched strides with Elsquare looking to be going slighter the better of the two and he duly edged ahead at the 100m mark.

Hawkeye Pierce, who had been held up momentarily at the top of the straight, ran on late to keep Elsquare honest all the way to the line.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Bruce Hill: “Yeah, I did make plenty of gear changes (Blinkers off again, Bits (Lugging) on first time, Tongue-Tie on first time) ... I just couldn’t get things right. I got them right now, I hope.

“When I first got him all he wanted to do was go one hundred miles an hour, you know. Everything was just full on ... always full on. He’s too big to be fighting and he just wanted to do things wrong in his races. Today is the best I’ve seen him race. He actually raced properly. He relaxed, he travelled and he got to the line good. He is a lovely looking horse.

“I brought him back in distance. You know, when Glen (Colless) rode him last time (when third over 1666m), not that Glen did anything wrong, I thought he just sort of struggled to get the mile. I was disappointed the other week when he raced. I just took him home and started from scratch. I took all the gear off him and changed a couple of things. Perseverance pays off ... sometimes!”

Jockey Paul Hammersley: “I think he has been a little bit of a problem, but, no he has been going well on track and it showed today.”

HRO pointed out to Hill the how well the ‘Double H’ team (Hill and Hammersley) team are going at the moment.

Trainer Bruce Hill: “Yeah, before he (Hammersley) went away (to Macau) he was riding a lot of winners for us. We had a lot of luck before. The thing I like about him is he knows what I expect and he does it ... he tries, you know ... and there’s no bullshit with him.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Double Rise (K. Banks) blundered on jumping away. Shortly after entering the home straight, Hawkeye Pierce (A. Merritt) shifted out to obtain clear running and brushed Miz Winfrey on a number of occasions. A post race veterinary examination of Oh Canada revealed the gelding to be lame in the near-foreleg. Connections were advised that a veterinary clearance will be required prior to its next race start.