EF OCT 10 - ONALAR ON SONG

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Monday, October 12, 2009

Eagle Farm, October 10, 2009.
Open Handicap - 2100m. Time: 2-11.48.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1m.
1 Onalar; 2 My Counsel; 3 Yield Curve.

Jockey Christian Reith rated Onalar worse than midfield in the early part. Settled third last on the rail at a comfortable gallop until the turn, Onalar was momentarily held up on straightening, but he got a lead out of the roadblock when Yield Curve, who was racing on Onalar’s outside at the time, made an early forward move creating much needed galloping room for the Darryl Hansen trained runner.

Reith switched Onalar out around the heels of Yield Curve and allowed that movement to carry him right to the outside where he started to lay down his challenge as the widest runner on the track. It was a keen chase home with four runners spread across the track at the 150m mark, but Onalar had now built winning momentum and his finished best of all to peg back the challenges of My Counsel and Yield Curve who finished second and third respectively.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Darryl Hansen: “Today I was confident. He has been unlucky his last few runs and on the bigger track today, yeah, I gave him a great chance. The tighter tracks probably didn’t suit him real good. He didn’t get a lot of luck and when he did get out in those races he hit the line strong. On the bigger track, like I said, I was very confident.

“Yeah, we will keep him down here. There are a couple of races coming up. I brought three horses down originally (from Mackay) ... one pulled a muscle, the other one wasn’t quite good enough so it went back home ... and this one stayed."

Jockey Christian Reith: “We knew he would run the distance good. The query was the weight. The horse has been racing quite well of late. He’s always thereabouts. He just probably needed the bigger track today ... a bit more room ... and he got that today. I was always confident that’s why I just come back a length. I had to come back a length just before the corner and get behind Damien Browne (riding Yield Curve), but I wasn’t too worried about losing that ground at that stage because the horse was always travelling well underneath me. I knew he was always going to hit the line.

“The horse ran well in the Lismore Cup and on the bigger track he was always going to be hard to beat. First impressions ... he just sees the trip out. Like they say, he has been up for quite a while so he might be just coming to the end of it. But he did well.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Onalar): 4.20 out to 5.00. Equal favourite.
Equal favourite (Jedi Starfighter): 5.00 out to 5.50 in to 5.00. Finished sixth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Hecentadove (S. Seamer) jumped away awkwardly, shifted in and brushed Onalar (C. Reith). The saddle of Anglesea (L. Cassidy) slipped back in the early stages of the event.

Stewards sought an explanation from jockey S. Seamer regarding the performance of Hecentadove. S. Seamer stated that the horse, after finding the lead in the early stages, travelled comfortably up until near the 1000m when Crowning Force (J. Bowditch) took a position to its outside. S. Seamer stated from that point on the horse was under pressure and from the 600m failed to respond to his riding and compounded badly in the straight.

Trainer J. Everson agreed that the horse was disappointing however, felt that Hecentadove may not have been suited by Crowning Force racing on its outside as he felt Hecentadove races best when able to lead unchallenged. Stewards noted their explanations.

Stewards sought an explanation from jockey J. Bowditch regarding the tactics employed on Crowning Force today. J. Bowditch stated he had been instructed to ride Crowning Force back in the field however, after beginning well he was content to take up a position one out one back initially behind Hecentadove. J. Bowditch stated that when leaving the 1500m he attempted to restrain Crowing Force in order to get cover behind Raksasa (S. Katsidis), which had shifted out to the outside of Hecentadove’s heels, however the horse commenced to over-race and he was obliged to allow it to stride forward to the outside of Hecentadove. He added that Crowning Force compounded badly over the concluding stages. Stewards accepted his explanation. A post race veterinary examination of Crowning Force failed to reveal any abnormalities.