EF NOV 03 - CRYSTAL HONOUR SCORES BREAKTHROUGH WIN

By Graham Potter | Friday, November 6, 2009

Eagle Farm, November 3, 2009.
Track - Good 3, Rail - out 10m.
Maiden Plate (Fillies and Mares - Set weights) - 1300m. Time: 1-18.56.
1 Crystal Honour; 2 Fast Fleet; 3 Rockwest.

Jockey Stathi Katsidis had no hesitation in taking the Robert Heathcote trained Crystal Honour into an immediate lead. Once there Katsidis rated the three-year-old perfectly and Crystal Honour was able to shrug off the persistent challenge of her market rival Rockwest halfway up the straight before staying on well enough to see off a belated challenge of Fast Fleet.

Crystal Honour was winning second-up this prep. It was her first win in eight starts.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Robert Heathcote: “At her last race (when finishing third) we wanted to lead also. It was a 1000m race and one jumped in on us and we had to put the brakes on. She is a big, free-rolling type of horse.

“Mate, she is going to be so much better when she gets to a mile and even ... I’m hoping ... the Oaks trip, down the line. She ran a really good second to Taffy. Remember Taffy in the Winter Carnival? She came here and put in a couple of cheeky showings in Black Type races. So I think she’s got a bit of a future.”

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: “She was sort of looking around a lot, but Rob (Heathcote) said she was still learning. She was sort of one-paced, so I let her slide from the 500m to get the other horses off the bit. It worked out good.

“She’s a little bit weak now ... not weak in a bad way. She’s just got a lot of maturing to do. Rob thinks she is a potential Oaks horse. I think she’ll be better after a spell and comes back. Once she strengthens up then we’ll see that ability. She’s got all this ability, but she doesn’t know what to do with it just yet. So it was a good win in the circumstances.”

*For the record, after beating Crystal Honour by a half-length at Ipswich back at the start of May, Taffy went on to run a 2.50 length third to Carrara (who finished second in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas a month ago) in the Listed Doomben Slipper and a 3.00 length fifth behind Shoot Out in the Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Crystal Honour): 2.80 out to 3.30.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Hear the Bells (M. Hellyer) was slow to begin. Planet Singa (R. McMahon) commenced to hang out shortly after the start and continued to do so, necessitating its rider to ease the horse out of the event on the home turn. A post race veterinary examination of Planet Singa revealed the mare to have sustained lacerations to both sides of its mouth. Trainer B. Baldwin was advised that he would be required to provide a veterinary clearance for Planet Singa and that the mare must trial satisfactorily prior to its next race start.

C. Reith, rider of Woongarra, reported that the horse did not race genuinely and he was forced to urge the horse forward in order to hold a handy position in the race. C. Reith added that the filly's effort in the home straight was disappointing and he had recommended to connections that blinkers be added to the horse.