ON HOLD SCORES ON DEBUT

By Graham Potter | Sunday, September 18, 2022

‘On hold no longer’ … that could be opening words of the first report-back following the three-year-old filly On Hold’s entry into race action after the David Vandyke trained daughter of Headwater earned a winning debut result when scoring by a neat length in a Fillies And Mares Maiden Handicap over 1000m at the Sunshine Coast on September 18.

Vandyke had given On Hold two trials leading into her first assignment … the first on July 26 (which she won) and the second on August 9 (in which she finished second) with her showings in those two hit-outs being enough for her to be sent out at a prohibitive starting price of $1.95 for her taste of action.

Short odds, maybe, but, when the result was in the frame, you wouldn’t have wanted to be on anything else.

After the field broke evenly from the barriers, Ryan Maloney pushed On Hold forward, emerging from a pack of runners to take up the lead in the early part.

The $26 outsider Perovskaya, racing on the fence, kept On Hold one wide though and Maloney was happy to allow Perovskaya to sneak into a narrow lead in the sweep to the home turn, but all the while keeping On Hold in close attendance, right there, ready to strike when it mattered.

On straightening, Maloney immediately took On Hold up alongside Perovskaya, who did kick on until the 200m mark, where On Hold gained a clear ascendency, from which moment the result was never in doubt.

Any debut win is a good win and, in most cases, it also comes with a promise of things to come as the horse gains more racing experience.

The bottom line on this day though was that that important first win was on the scoreboard for On Hold, and was achieved with a very pleasing performance.

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