STEEL LIPS GIVES OLLIE A DOUBLE AT DOOMBEN

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 25, 2009

Class 6 Plate (Set weights) - 1350m. Time: 1-23.96. Track - Heavy 9. Rail - out 4m.

The Steele Ryan trained Steel Lips gave Damien Oliver a double on the day at Doomben when he took out the final race on the card.

The five-year-old settled on the rail in the middle part of the race. When the field tracked wider on the turn, Oliver elected to keep pushing forward on the inside line. Steel Lips’s immediate response was not that telling, but he gradually warmed to his task to race into contention. With 100m left to run Steel Lips still had to reel in Monashee Warrior, but he was now working in harmony with one of the best in the business and Oliver helped get him to the lead 20m from the post to score a well-earned victory.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Steele Ryan: “He is a good honest horse. I think he’ll go through to open company and he’ll win a couple of more Saturday races for sure. He might back up again next week in the 1500m or he might just go straight to the Eyeliner yet. I dunno.

Jockey Damien Oliver: “Steele (Ryan) expected him to be a bit closer, but he was snoozing in the gate so I thought he was going to miss it and get back a bit ... but we saved a bit of ground and tracked up nicely coming into the turn. I didn’t know if I was going to pick them up in the straight but the leader started to fold and he finished off really strongly. I went on the inside and the ground was maybe a little bit inferior, but I probably saved a lot of ground as well. He really handled the conditions well.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Steel Lips): 7.50 out to 8.50 in to 6.00. (Equal favourite)
Equal favourite (Malambo): 5.00 out to 6.00. Finished fifth.