EF NOV 28 - MARKING TIME ON THE MOVE

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Sunday, November 29, 2009

Eagle Farm, November 28, 2009.
Track - Good 2. Rail - out 2.5m.
QTIS 600 2yo Handicap - 1000m. Time: 0-57.55.
1 Marking Time; 2 Norocos; 3 Rapid Leica Dane.

The Alan Bailey trained Marking Time scored his second successive win when he made short work of the rivals over the last 120m when his powerful finishing effort crushed all opposition.

Jockey Glen Colless had to chase the big chestnut out of the stalls before easing back to settle in fourth spot on the rail early. Up to third, saving ground on the turn, Marking Time had two runners to worry about. The frontrunner Norocos clearly had no intention of giving any ground away and The Barracks, who was not going as well, was taking up valuable galloping room.

Marking Time took on those tasks one at a time. Firstly, a subtle shift out took The Barracks out wider on the track giving Marking Time room in which to stretch out. Then came the chase as marking Time set out to reel in the free-running Norocos.

This was no easy assignment. Marking Time had to really knuckle down to business, but he did just that, ranging up alongside Norocos approaching the 100m and then surging clear in the final run home to assert his authority in no uncertain terms to score by 2.30 lengths.

Marking Time’s win here came on the back of a similar clear-cut victory at the Gold Coast in his last start (when starting favourite). He is clearly a horse moving in the right direction.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Alan Bailey: “I was a bit surprised when they didn’t rate him much this morning. He came here the first time and he’d only had one little jump out. Glen (Colless) said he was going to win at the furlong, but his run peaked a little early and he just knocked up.

“Then the other day we took him back and gave him that run at the Coast because it was worth a bit of money. At the Coast he beat the horse that the favourite (Slice ‘N’ Dice) beat here the other day by eight lengths ... he beat him by 7.50 lengths and he improved a ton since that run.”

*Bailey was taking a line through the horse called Right Reaction, who was the only common denominator in the races won (in their previous outings) by Slice and Dice at Eagle Farm and Marking Time at the Gold Coast.

You know, I thought, well he has to have some hope in the race. You can never knock the favourite because of his win, but I thought this bloke is solid and race fit now ... he’s got a good hope from this alley. We were quite happy with our horse going into the race there is no doubt about that.

“I bought him at the Magic Millions. I paid $50000 for him ... one of the cheaper ones, but now he’s come alright. Of course he is one of those Super 6’s or whatever they are.

“We picked him on his breeding. He had a full brother that I think has won about three out of four starts in North Queensland. He was a real brumby ... a wild bugger according to the bloke that owned him. They said to him, why didn’t you have a bid on this one and he said it took him six months to break the last bugger in and we didn’t want another one. So I said to Luca who does the breaking in for me, I said, whatever you do just put all the time into him, but he’s never given us any trouble, you know.

“He’ll have another run somewhere first, but I will give him a couple of weeks off now. He is a Magic Millions horse and I think when he gets to the 1200m he will be better again. In fact I think the 1400m will be better for him again. He’s a good strong horse. We’ve never had any trouble with him at this stage, so he’ll go for a couple weeks now and we’ll bring him back and get him ready for that race.”

Jockey Glen Colless: “Yeah, he is starting to settle down a bit now too, you know. He was a little bit erratic early on. He had that run at Doomben then he went to the Coast the other day and jumped on the bunny over 900m. It was good for him to come to town today and get a sit and you know, he finished off good. There is a bit of improvement in him.

“At about the 300m he was baulked briefly. I went to go between Brad (Stewart) and another one and they just closed the door a touch. Once it opened up again, he was ready to take it, you know. He sort of got balanced again and got through it good and then he really hit the line."

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Marking Time): 4.20 out to 4.80 in to 4.60.
Favourite (Slice And Dice): 1.50 in to 1.45 out to 1.50. Finished seventh.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
High Chancellor (L. Cassidy) was slow to begin. Near the 600m High Chancellor over-raced for a short distance at the heels of Cavaliered (J. Byrne). Near the 300m Marking Time (G. Colless) was disappointed for a run between The Barracks (B. Stewart) and Norocos (R. Goltz), both of which shifted ground slightly. Approaching the 200m Rapid Leica Dane (B. Pengelly) was disappointed for a run between Marking Time and The Barracks and was obliged to then shift ground to obtain clear running.

Stewards sought an explanation from M. Cahill and trainer L. Birchley in respect of the performance of Slice And Dice. M. Cahill stated that the horse travelled comfortably even though he was unable to obtain cover, however when he placed the horse under pressure approaching the home turn Slice And Dice failed to respond as it had on its previous occasions and in his opinion performed very disappointingly. M. Cahill added that the firm surface of the track today may have also had an effect on the overall performance of Slice And Dice.

Trainer L. Birchley was unable to offer an explanation and advised stewards that Slice And Dice had trained on well from its previous win and he was confident the colt would perform well today. Mr Birchley undertook to advise stewards of anything that came to light in the days subsequent to the event that may have had an effect on the horse's performance. A post-race veterinary examination of Slice And Dice failed to reveal any abnormalities and a swab sample was taken.

The Club's veterinary surgeon reported that Norocos bled from one nostril. Trainer N. Hilton was advised that under the provisions of AR. 53A Norocos must undergo a satisfactory gallop of 1000m in the presence of a steward.