DOOM OCT 07 - ATHENAS GIFT BACK TO HIS BEST

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 8, 2009

Doomben, October 07, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 8m.
Class 4 Handicap (C, G & E) - 1350m. Time: 1-18.92. (New Class Record).
1 Athenas Gift; 2 General Purple; 3 Tightrope.

The Robert Heathcote trained Athenas Gift bounced back to his best with a solid first-up win in his first outing in four-and-a-half months.

Jockey Damian Browne settled the gelding in the second half of the field off a strong pace early. As the field straightened and Tightrope went up to join the long-time leader Radetsky, Athenas Gift still had plenty of work to do, but the four-year-old was keen on the task and he, along with General Purple out wider on the track, set out after the leaders with meaning.

The battle between Radetsky and Tightrope was settled in favour of the latter by the 100m mark, but Tightrope had hardly got to the front when he was cut down by the superior finishing effort of Athenas Gift inside the final 50m. Athanas Gift went on to win by a long-neck. General Purple, who had produced a similar sustained run to the winner, quite literally nosed out Tightrope for second place.

It was always going to be interesting to see which Athenas Gift turned up here. The stark contrast between the form of his first and second preps compared to his third preparation suggested the run was either going to be good or bad. Athenas Gift, to date, has never been a middle ground player.

Runner-up in two starts first time in, Athenas Gift won two races, finished second twice and third three times in a seven race second preparation. After nine starts he thus had never finished out of the first three. That fact underlined both his consistency and his potential.

But the third preparation muddied the water to a disturbing degree. Athenas Gift started with a Class 6 contest first-up and then upped the ante, taking on Listed and then Group 3 company. All of these runs met with dismal results ... so bad in fact that there looked to be something more amiss than just not coping with the higher division of racing. In those four runs before the pin was pulled on his third preparation, Athena’s Gift finished a combined total of 55.5 lengths behind the respective race-winners.

But all that is now in the past. The latest result is the one that counts and it shows that the tide could have turned again ... this time for the better!

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Robert Heathcote: “Look, his first nine races he never missed a place and he looked like being a real good horse. I saved him for the Winter Carnival and he came back and went last, last last, last.

“There was clearly a problem, but all efforts to find that problem were exhausted with no success. So we just put him out ... gave him three months off and he’s come back ... first-up, 1350m, 57kg. He’s done a great job under a lovely ride by Damian (Brown).”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Burnett Dancer was declared a late scratching on veterinary advice at 3.20 pm. S. Galloway who was dislodged from General Purple when proceeding to the barriers, was examined by the club doctor and cleared to fulfil his engagement.

Elsquare (P. Hammersley) and Athenas Gift (D. Browne) had to be checked at the start when tightened for room between Patmoss (K. Sawyers), which was taken in by Radetsky (M. Hellyer) and Fielding (A. Merritt), which shifted out abruptly on jumping away.

Near the 900m, the saddle on Fielding slipped forward, placing its rider at a disadvantage and resulting in the rider having to retire Fielding from the event after entering the home straight.

Passing the 300m, Elsquare had to be steadied when momentarily tightened for room between Cape Chivas (J. Bowditch) and The Beast which shifted out.

When questioned regarding the seemingly disappointing performance of The Beast, O. Turpin stated that when attempting to position the horse one off the fence outside Fielding near the 800m, it was evident to him that the saddle had shifted on that horse and in the interests of the rider of Fielding he shifted out to a three wide position to allow the horse to come to the outside of the heels of Radetsky.

O. Turpin stated that whilst The Beast over-raced in the middle stages, he was disappointed in the horse's finishing effort. Trainer A. Bailey stated that the horse worked well subsequent to its last win and, in his opinion, The Beast races best when leading and advised stewards that the horse turned in a similar performance at Doomben on 25 September.