EF SEPT 19 - COME FROM BEHIND WIN FOR TITANIUM ROCK

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eagle Farm. September 19, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 6m.
3yo QTIS Handicap - 1500m. Time: 1-30.55.
1 Titanium Rock; 2 African Lion; 3 Listen Son.

The Mark Webb trained Titanium Rock scored a perfectly judged, come from behind win as he got up in the shadow of the post to his second career victory.

Jockey Michael Cahill took Titanium Rock back to the rear of the field early. He was still second last in the sweep to the turn and had still had it all to do as the field straightened for home.

There was nothing flash about Titanium’s chase home. There was no sudden acceleration, but rather a concentrated, sustained effort which saw him gradually make up ground to move into contention and then a gritty determination which allowed him to finish off with a flourish as he snared the duelling duo of African Lion and Listen Son in the final few strides.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Mark Webb: “Yeah, I was very happy with that. We were reasonable confident going into the race. He needs to be ridden quiet and we didn’t know if there was going to be enough pace on for it. I thought, considering there wasn’t a lot of speed on the horse got to the line good. I was a little bit concerned in the middle stages when there was absolutely no speed on at all. They were just fair dinkum crawling ... but to his credit the horse has showed that he is probably a good bit above average.

“He’s always shown ability, but he was never there as a two-year-old of course. This preparation he is starting to put it all together. I think he will definitely get better as he gets older.”

Jockey Michael Cahill: “He is a nice enough three-year-old. He ran well here at his previous run. I rode him that day and he finished off well for third. It was just a matter of getting him to settle here today and a better tempo. They felt as if they were going ok - to me anyway. Once he got going properly balanced he was able to hit top gear there inside the furlong. He finished off good. It was not a bad effort.

“He could go further. He is a lovely big horse ... bit of a baby yet, he is still immature. He is in good hands and hopefully he can keep taking the next step.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Titanium Rock): 4.40 out to 4.80.
Favourite (Listen Son): 2.40 out to 2.50 in to 2.40. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
In the middle stages, Shadows ‘N’ Stars (S. Seamer) over-raced at the heels of Arcup (C. McIver).