THE CAT CLAWS HIS WAY HOME

By Graham Potter | Saturday, May 23, 2009

He had the class. He had the determination. He got the glory!

The Greg Eurell trained Apache Cat wrote himself into the record books as only the third horse in the history of the Doomben 10000 to land back-to-back wins in the Group 1 feature.

It was a daring ride by Damien Oliver, who confidently let the chestnut stride out freely to challenge for the lead in the sweep to the turn. On straightening, the six-year-old kicked away, looking set to repeat the demolition job he did on the opposition last year, but this time the race was far from over.

Not that you would have recognised the major threats at that stage.

The Con Karakatsanis trained Black Piranha, who had been eased back from his outside draw by Ty Angland at the start, was second last and being scrubbed along.

Even further back, bringing up the rear, was All Silent. Craig Williams too had elected to drop his mount out after the start and he was then outpaced for the first half of the race. Now both Black Piranha and All Silent were set to work. Both had plenty do.

As the crowd roared Apache Cat home, Angland and Williams took drastically different options when taking up the chase. With Black Piranha held in by Light Fantastic, Angland had little option but to gamble on luck through the traffic. He stuck to the inside. Williams scouted wide ... and then wider ... and then wider, until All Silent was hard up against the outside running rail.

Black Piranha’s acceleration was superb. Hard ridden, the five-year-old made up ground in scintillating fashion. He sped through a gap between a weakening Court Command and the game Sniper’s Bullet. He avoided a tiring Jungle Ruler. With 150m left to run, that momentum carried him into second placing. Now Black Piranha only had Apache Cat to shoot down.

All this time, All Silent was still improving right on the outside and Sniper’s Bullet was staying on without threatening to take the main prize. The others were out of it.

Over the final 150m, the gap between Apache Cat and Black Piranha was reduced with each passing stride. Oliver knew Black Piranha was coming ... and, in the next moment Black Piranha was there, almost alongside. That was when two champions dug deep to thwart the charge of Black Piranha as Oliver drove Apache Cat to the line to hold on by an ever diminishing margin.

All Silent finished hard to claim third spot by the narrowest of margins from Sniper’s Bullet. The gap between the fourth placed Sniper’s Bullet and the struggling pack was a full four lengths.

Apache Cat has now earned a touch under $4.4 million in stakes accrued from 18 wins and 10 minor placings in 38 starts.

It was a huge run from Black Piranha in defeat. It was the third successive time that Black Piranha had finished second when beaten by less than a length in a Group 1 event. His turn will come.

It was an equally good performance from All Silent, who lost plenty of ground with his outward movement at the top of the straight. In the end he only went down by 1.50 lengths.

Sniper’s Bullet too can take a bow. He was just a touch short on ability when it mattered most, but his result was still full of merit.

For the rest, some might blame the underfoot conditions ... some will just take it on the chin.

The bottom line is that none of balance of the line-up was good enough on the day to trouble Apache Cat, who added a further compelling chapter to the proud history of the race in what was the last Group 1 event to be held under the auspices of the Brisbane Turf Club.

The Brisbane Turf Club and the Queensland Turf Club will officially merge on July 1 to form a new racing identity, the Brisbane Racing Club.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Greg Eurell: “I think there was no doubt that this field was stronger than last year. That is certainly not a slur on last year’s field, but there were more of them this year and when there are more of them, you know, certain things come into play.

“He’s the type of horse that likes to blend into his races. I think people read a little much into the ‘flat spot’ he is supposed to have in his races. When they talk about his flat spot, it’s because I think they expect him to sit and sprint. That’s not his style. I mean probably The Australia Stakes highlighted the fact he just had an opportunity with free room to blend into the race and he won it very well. The distance today sort of helped him to blend into it, rather than sit and sprint.

“I just left it up to Damien (Oliver). He’s the man you know. He said he got there too early. There was a bit of an anxious moment on the line, but they got the job done.”

Jockey Damien Oliver: “Going to the gates on the softer track he really felt fantastic and I thought, oh, he’s in for a super run today. He was probably going too well. I was wishing that he didn’t have the blinkers on coming to the turn. He was just going too well. The leaders just caved in on him. He arrived much earlier than I wanted to. I didn’t want to interrupt his momentum by holding him back on that heavy ground. It was a long way to be in front so far from home, but he was pretty brave. I was just glad he held on there in the end.

“Black Piranha certainly did give me a scare in the closing stages because I knew I was paddling a bit late. I asked him (Apache Cat) for a supreme effort and he answered every challenge. He is fantastic. He is all heart.

“It wasn’t a simple choice to choose to ride him. Danleigh (who Oliver rode in his last two starts, which included a win in the All Aged) has been in great form. Especially when the wet track came up I thought he was in with a great chance, but Apache Cat has been a top class horse for a long time. It would take a brave man to get off him.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Zac Purton, who had been engaged to ride Court Command, was flying in from Hong Kong and due to arrive about 10 o'clock this morning. However, his flight was diverted to Townsville and this delayed his arrival into Brisbane and consequently to the track. Zac Purton had kept in touch with the stewards from after arriving in Townsville and whilst they were concerned that he would not be on track in time, Robert Thompson weighed out and was standing by to ride the horse. However, as jockey Purton was continually in touch by telephone after arriving at Brisbane Airport, the stewards delayed changing the rider until about 12 minutes before starting time when Purton did arrive and took the mount.

Craig Williams (All Silent) was questioned regarding the tactics he adopted on the horse, particularly in the straight. Jockey Williams said that he regularly walks tracks before the races and had done so today. He said in his opinion the ground near the outside fence in the straight was lengths better than anywhere else and he told Mr Grahame Begg before the race that he intended to do something out of the ordinary today. He said that rounding the home turn All Silent was in a rearward position and not travelling kindly. He added that in the straight he allowed the horse to drift to the extreme outside and because of this he claimed that the horse closed the race off better than anything else and but for it becoming unbalanced on two occasions he was firmly of the view the horse would have won the race. Mr Begg said that before the race he told jockey Williams he would leave the riding of the horse entirely in his hands and whilst the tactics adopted in the straight were certainly out of the ordinary he was in no way critical of jockey Williams today. At the conclusion of the inquiry jockey Williams was told that it is probably in his interests when adopting such extraordinary tactics to advise those in control of the meeting of what his intention might be and his explanations were therefore today recorded. The explanations tendered by Mr Begg were accepted.

Craig Williams (talking to HRO): “I walked the track earlier in the day. I was confident enough that, when the track opened up and the rain came, the outside was an advantageous place to be. So, when I had a full field in front of me and we were quite wide anyway, I decided then to bring him to the outside. He couldn’t travel through the race until he got to the outside where the going was better. If he didn’t lose his balance, I’m pretty confident that he would have won the race. So it was a daring move from last place, but it nearly paid off."