DOOM SEPT 26 - JOINT CHIEFS, EAR MUFFS AND A SUCCESS STORY

By Graham Potter | Monday, September 28, 2009

Doomben, September 26, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3.5m.
NMW Handicap - 1020m. Time: 58.66.
1 Joint Chiefs; 2 Grandiva; 3 Marqualo.

The Brian Wakefield trained Joint Chiefs is a magnificent looking horse. He has an unusual, exciting action and the way he raises his forelegs high in the gallop highlights the effort he is putting in and underlines the intent to pound the opposition into the turf as he eats up the ground with a flying finish. Most important of all, he wins races!

Even though this was his third win on the trot (taking his career record to four wins from six starts), Joint Chiefs still has a long way to go in the grand scheme of things, but it is the manner in which he is going about his business that has caught the eye.

Jockey Brad Stewart had the gelding in the second half of the field early. On straightening Joints Chiefs looked in danger of being cut out for a run. Stewart first considered a run towards the inside, but then quickly angled back out again. Suddenly Joint Chiefs was in the clear and, just as quickly, he was into full stride as he joined a cavalry charge for the line.

Grandiva, who like Joint Chiefs had come from off the speed, hit the front inside the final 100m with Joint Chiefs as the danger and the latter rallied late under a forceful ride by Stewart to edge out Grandiva by 0.20 lengths to complete a hat-trick of wins.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Brian Wakefield: “He was going to race on Wednesday. With the dust storm things got thrown up in the air, if you pardon the pun, but, yeah, we threw him in this race today. We were hopeful to get a run (and got one they did - as the fifth emergency). Anyway, things happen for a reason and it’s happened nice for us today.

“We were trying to work out the horse. It was probably due to my wife Natalie that we got the ear muffs. He is a big, strong horse and he had a bit of a history in Sydney of tearing away with the track-work riders. We noticed that he was very hypersensitive to noise and a couple of other things.

“We saw these ear-muffs and we tried them out. These have actually come over from Japan these ones. A lot of horses use them in Japan. I suppose they get the big crowds over there and it just sort of absorbs a little bit of noise for some horses that are a bit hypersensitive. A lot of people are sensitive to certain things, so it’s obvious that horses could be the same way as well. The ear muffs seem to agree with him. Brett Ryan has been riding him in track-work and done a lot of remedial work with him. He’s done a great job with him.

“They’ve been nice wins (three-in-a-row). I mean his first win he did a few things wrong. Second time Michael (Cahill) rode him again and won on him again. Things went better for him and the horse did relax. Michael’s got to take a big bow with this. Through his racing manners Michael has done a good job with him in his last two starts and Brad did a great job here.”

Jockey Brad Stewart: “I sort of haven’t had a lot to do with him. I only picked up the ride on him this morning. He is a nice horse. You only have to look at him. He is a lovely, big, strong animal and he gave me a good feel. It was a good win. He found the line hard and he was going away from the second horse at the line.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Joint Chiefs (B. Stewart) was slow to begin. Marqualo (S. Scriven) jumped out at the start and made contact with Ethbaal (S. Galloway). Fille De Neige (App M. Speers) had a tendency to lay in throughout the event. This resulted in App M. Speers being unable to ride the horse out over the concluding stages in its customary manner.

M. Cahill the rider of Grandiva was severely reprimanded for allowing his mount to shift in near the 100m resulting in Fantastic Movie (App J. Wood) having to be steadied. Approaching the finish line Joint Chiefs and Grandiva made contact.

S. Galloway the rider of Ethbaal reported that he was disappointed for a run between Admiral Gherkin (App M. Hellyer) and Haylergal (D. Browne), which shifted in slightly near the 200m and he was then obliged to shift ground to the outside to obtain clear running. A post race veterinary examination of Admiral Gherkin failed to reveal any abnormality.