SCST SEPT 27 - FINX FIRES UP LATE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sunshine Coast, September 27, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 4m.
Maiden Plate (Set Weights) - 1400m. Time: 1-26.47.
1 Finx; 2 Za Lovett; 3 Flying Touchdown.

The Bruce Hill trained Finx has been knocking at the door in his last two starts and he showed the improvement required to win here when finishing best of all in a pressurised finish to take the honours.

Jockey Paul Hammersley had Finx positioned in midfield early and the three-year-old turned for home in eighth place. With horses directly in front of him and one on his outside, there were very limited options for Finx early in the straight. Hammersley summed that situation up perfectly and continued to press forward in a straight line. He was making ground while hopeful that a gap would appear.

By the 200m Finx was on the heels of the leaders and he now had to make his own luck. Hammersley tried to ease Finx out to take the line between the frontrunning Za Lovett and Flying Touchdown, but it took the rider a full 100m to complete that move and it was only over the final 75m that Finx extended to chase up and claim the win.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Jockey Paul Hammersley: “He jumped pretty well. He has been known to be a bit slow away, but he jumped well, positioned himself well. It was a bit of a struggle to get a clear run in the straight. He fought on well after wanting to lay down a little bit in the straight. He didn’t really want to fight to get the gap, but once he got out he hit the line well.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
On jumping away El Fantasy (M. Heagney) and Not Declared (M. Hughes) were tightened between Iron Hawk (S. Galloway) and Kuda Rock (D. Browne), which shifted out. Lord Downer (K. Pope) jumped away awkwardly. Za Lovett (G. Geran) was caught wide in the run to the first turn and was obliged to race wide for the majority of the event. Leaving the 400m Lord Downer had to be steadied to avoid the heels of Flying Touchdown (T. Pannell) which shifted out to improve.

Near the 150m M. Hellyer (Natane) dropped his nearside rein when attempting to gather up and when attempting to regain the rein the horse shifted in abruptly near the 100m and as a result of this Kuda Rock was inconvenienced. Following this race M Hellyer sought the attention of the Club's doctor as he had aggravated a recent injury to his left shoulder and was stood down from his remaining engagements, with riding replacements made as per the Stewards Race Day Summary.

When questioned as to the somewhat disappointing performance of Recurrent, S. Katsidis stated that the horse is somewhat one-paced and on straightening, when asked for an effort, the horse today did not respond to his riding, however he was not entirely disappointed with the run. A veterinary examination of Recurrent revealed that the horse was making a respiratory noise. Trainer J. McLachlan was advised that a veterinary certificate outlining the results of an endoscopic examination of Recurrent should be provided before the horse races again.

Stewards questioned S. Katsidis as to his whip action over the concluding stages whereby his arm was raised above his shoulder. As S. Katsidis had not previously infringed the rules relating to whip use, he was severely reprimanded.