SCINTILLATING WIN FOR FIRED UP FUNTANTES

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 16, 2009

Champagne Stakes (Group 2) - 1200m. Time 1-09.71. Track: Good 3. Rail: Out 2m the entire circuit.
1 Funtantes; 2 Trim; 3 Impulsive Dream

Funtantes won her fourth race in only her sixth start here. That statistic is already good enough to highlight the quality of the filly, but the manner in which she achieved her latest success makes that record even more outstanding. An end-to-end win, when chasing from an outside barrier against some high class opposition at Group 2 level tells its own story. She will get a lot more respect next time.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Rob Heathcote: “She’s a little bit special, I think. She got her head kicked in on Tuesday by Movie in a track gallop and that sort of dented our confidence a bit. She’s a real race day horse. She just puts it all together on race day. From the draw we had no option, just go forward. Larry Cassidy’s a Group 1 jockey and it shows on days like this, those guys step up to the plate. He took the initiative and made it stick.

“After she won last time (on April 11) ... two weeks later on the Wednesday, she rolled in the sand and pulled a muscle. The muscle is similar to a hamstring, but it’s on the inside of the leg. That’s the reason she hasn’t run for a month. For a while there I thought the Carnival was out. She couldn’t walk. We’ve done a lot of work with her and taken her down to the beach and we’ve rehabilitated the leg. To be honest, coming here today you still don’t know if you’ve got it right. She’s come here today and shown that she has come good. She’s done it under pressure. She’s run a fair time and she’s beaten a lot of good horses. We’ll go to the Sires now.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “She had a small set back. She missed a week’s work ... or a few days work. Rob (Heathcote) and his staff have done a great job getting her back. I’ve been riding her in work in the lead up to this. Her work’s been only alright. She got flogged on Tuesday morning in a track gallop by Clarry Conners horse (Movie) ... but she is a very lazy, laid-back track worker and I know she does put her best foot forward on race-day. She obviously saves her best for race-day.

“She can be slightly tardy getting away from the gates. Today she began very well, which was help from the outside draw. We intended to ride her forward and be aggressive and just sort of hope we had some luck to get in behind the lead. Going down to the first corner I could see that if they kept rolling along, I was going to sort of sit comfortably three deep outside the leaders. When I could see that both jockeys in front of me didn’t really want to be there, I thought, well I’d take the initiative and take it up.

“I thought if I used her too much, so be it ... but we got about an easy furlong-and-a-half and she found plenty when they turned for home. She’s a good filly. There’s improvement to come, for sure. She is a very under-rated filly. She certainly showed that today from a wide draw. You know, if there is a shower of rain around, I think she is even better and I’m sure when she gets up in distance she is going to be better again.”