SCST SEPT 20 - DOUBLE FOR THE CRAIGLEA CONNECTION

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sunshine Coast, September 20, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 2m.
Class 1 Handicap - 1000m. Time: 57.57.
1 Craiglea Apollo; 2 Asenjar; 3 Pearly Beach.

Craiglea Apollo gave trainer Peter Fleming and the Craiglea Stud connections a double on the day (Craiglea Belle had scored earlier on the card) when she produced a strong finish to win by a comfortable 1.50 length margin.

Craiglea Apollo took the sit just off the speeding duo of Asenjar and Tinkling who matched motors early on. Asenjar was good enough to shake off Tinkling early in the straight and, although the latter tried to come back at her, it was Craiglea Warrior who posed the bigger threat to the leader as she started to unwind her run down the centre of the course.

Asenjar battled gamely but the effects of her early effort, which began to take its toll, coupled the Craiglea Apollo’s strength in the finish made it an uneven contest over the last 75m and Craiglea Apollo duly headed her rival 50m from the line to win going away to claim her third win (she also has three second place finishes to her credit) from only seven starts.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Peter Fleming: “She hit the line really good. They went very fast ... I was a bit worried there Asenjar went really fast. But, no, she’s always gone well this filly. She’s had her little problems along the way. She’s bred to stick on, but she’s a good sprinter.

“She was off the track for seven months (from December to July). She had a spur taken out of her knee. She’s come back nice and consistent after that. It was only at her last start that she didn’t finish in the money, but she is a bit timid inside horses and she still only finished three lengths behind the winner.

“So that was still a fair run. It was a pretty good sort of field that day, but they ran no time which worried me ... but today they’ve run good time.” (Andy Said, the winner of Craiglea Apollo’s previous race stopped the clock in 59.09 seconds. This time around Craiglea Apollo beat that time by 1.52 seconds. Both races were run over the same track and distance).

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Craiglea Apollo): 5.00 out to 6.00.
Favourite (Tinkling): 2.50 out to 2.90. Finished fourth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
When questioned, M. Radecker, rider of Jessie Street, explained that she failed to ride her mount out to the end of the race in her normal manner as the mare was inclined to shift in and away from Pearly Beach (S. Bogenhuber), which shifted in under pressure.