OUR LUKAS ROMPS HOME AT DOOMBEN

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 25, 2009

TMW (Last year) Handicap - 1615m.
Time: 1-39.52.Track - Heavy 8. Rail - out 4m.

Once Larry Cassidy decided to let Out Lukas roll forward quickly to take the lead going through the 1000m mark, the Robert Heathcote trained runner led his field a merry dance. The margin by which Our Lukas led varied down the back-straight. The pack had closed up right onto the heels of the frontrunner approaching the turn, but Cassidy was only giving his mount a breather. When Cassidy asked the five-year-old to quicken again soon after straightening, the gelding kicked away strongly and, although the favourite Hume and Little Stranger did emerge out of the pack to give chase, Our Lukas stayed on strongly to the line to score in convincing fashion. The winning margin of three lengths underlined the winners’ superiority.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Robert Heathcote: “This horse is flying. You saw his last start when he got caught wide for 800m and got relegated down to fourth. He’s absolutely grown another leg. I keep going back to what I did last preparation. I just kept him to a mile knowing full well that as a Generous horse - pretty similar to that horse that is racing later on today, the one who won the Coloundra Cup last year (Fast Future) – he’s by Generous. He did the same thing. As they get older, they get better ... and I think they will get better over ground to. Once again, Larry Cassidy ... what a lovely ride. He just allowed him to have a breather, waited till the speed backed off and then he pushed forward. He’s riding really well."

Heathcote was asked about his quest for the Brisbane Trainers’ Premiership, a table he currently leads.

Robert Heathcote: “I came second in the Trainer’s Premiership last year (behind Barry Baldwin). I think I came up about four or five wins short. I’d like to think I could win it this year. I’m four ahead at the moment. Yeah but, you know, I’m running out of bullets.”

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “Obviously it (the track) is a genuine heavy, but to get back those couple of dry days was fantastic so we could get through the race-day today. Rob (Heathcote) and his staff do a great job. He gets his horses ... you know, they get to the races looking well. They are hard and fit and they certainly
race that way.

Rob said be aggressive, but he didn’t jump out well. So I just dug him to get to where I was early. I thought, well I’ll take my time. I had a bit of cover. Then I got left with no cover down the back over the 1200m or 1150m – that was when the pace steadied. I thought, oh well, I might as well just press on and roll forward. He kept going. He was just too fit for them.”

This was Our Lukas’s second win from his last three starts. The result brought to his overall record to seven wins and seven minor places from 22 starts.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Our Lukas): 8.50 out to 9.00.
Favourite (Hume): 3.00 out to 3.40. (Finished second).

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
When questioned regarding his riding in the middle stages, S. Galloway (Hume) said that consideration had been given today to running the horse in a race over more ground but because of the rain it was decided to start the horse in this race. He said that Hume travelled reasonably well, however was not altogether suited by the muddling pace in the early stages. He said at about the 700m, when Iluva Queenslander went forward and raced outside My First Affair, he did have to wait in that position until about the 300m when he was able to get out and go forward. He said that to have improved outside My First Affair would have in his opinion not been in the best interests of Hume and he thought that the horse had clear running in plenty of time today but the winner on this occasion was too good. The explanations tendered by S. Galloway were accepted.