EF SEPT 30 - THE CRUSADER WINS A GOOD FIGHT

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 1, 2009

Eagle Farm, September 30, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - Out 11.5m.
Class 3 Handicap - 1000m. Time: 57.67.
1 The Crusader; 2 County Tale; 3 Pandemonia.

The Barry Baldwin trained The Crusader scored a fighting end to end victory first-up when returning from a five month spell.

Jockey Larry Cassidy had no hesitation in taking the lightly raced gelding to the front from where he proceeded to rate the horse to perfection. Happy to hold a narrow lead and even happier to bunch the field up approaching the turn, Cassidy asked The Crusader to kick on straightening and the gelding did so with meaning.

The race was still far from won though and pressure was brought to bear on the leader all the way down the straight. The Crusador kept finding though and he fought on strongly to keep all opposition at bay.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Barry Baldwin: “Before this winner, this is the worst trot (of results) I’ve had in, I reckon, twenty-odd years ... that long!

“I can put that down to a couple of little things, but mainly we’ve got a change-over of a lot of new horses. In saying that, I’ve got twenty-four two-year-olds there. One thing about a bad trot is that it never goes forever ... well it hasn’t in the past anyhow.

“This horse has got a bit of ability, but he’s always been a bit of a cripple. He’s had a wind operation before he ever raced. He’s had leg problems. That’s why he has only had eight starts. He won his first start. He ran second in his second start ... and he had a couple of placings. Then he hit the wet tracks which he can’t handle. They caused more problems.

“He’s got a bit of ability, but I don’t know how far he can go because he is often quite sore. Actually, one vet thought he might be lucky to even stand up this preparation. We got that one out of him. We’ll just be watching the tracks and placing him where we can ... a few weeks inbetween runs, that type of thing.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “Yeah, he just kept kicking. I just think he is a horse that has shown ability, but he probably had a long prep last time. I think he is probably just a real fresh horse and I think that is what Barry (Baldwin) will do, because he’s got a few niggly little problems ... and, if he keeps them like that, he might be able to win another couple.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (The Crusader): 3.50 out to 3.80.
Favourite (County Tale): 2.70 out to 3.00 in to 2.80.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Notevenow (J. Byrne) jumped away awkwardly and missed the start.

Leaving the 800m Notevenow shifted out from behind the heels of Compolo (App M. Hellyer) forcing Fairchild (App M. Speers) and Aqua Calda (M. Cahill) wider on the track. Pandemonia (App C. McIver) was inclined to lay out approaching home turn.

Following the race J. Byrne reported that whilst Notevenow raced wide it did not finish the race off as expected. Stewards intend to interview trainer B. Guy at the earliest available time.

Trainer B. Guy advised that Notevenow had pulled up fine subsequent to the event with no apparent abnormalities. Mr. Guy further stated that, in his opinion, the extra distance covered by the gelding when racing wide for the majority of the event contributed to its disappointing performance.