NEWS ALERT SNARES ELUSIVE WIN

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 25, 2009

Chief De Beers Handicap (Quality - Listed) - 1110m. Time: 1-07.49.
Track - Heavy 9. Rail - out 4m.

If ever there was a horse overdue for a win it was News Alert. Now with trainer Con Karakatanis, the filly had been placed eight times in her previous fourteen starts. In those circumstances, either a breakthrough win is achieved, or the horse starts to go backwards. Thankfully for the connections of News Alert, the gelding chose the positive option, putting in a concentrated effort to secure the honours in the Chief De Beers Handicap, contested over 1100m at Doomben.

Jimmy Cassidy positioned the four-year-old out wide, just off the speed. News Alert held his position quite comfortably until the turn, where Cassidy urged him forward. News Alert quickly gathered momentum and hit the front halfway up the straight. He had a number of others horses in tow, most notably Nuclear Medicine, but nobody got close enough to threaten his superiority on the day. The elusive win was safely in the bag!

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Con Karakatsanis: “I’ve only just recently got him. I’ve only had him for one start. He’s always had a lot of ability, it’s just finding the key to him. Jimmy Cassidy has won on him before, so he knows him well. I was just a little bit worried about the track today. He sat three deep with no cover and still had the audacity to still fight and win. He’s a very nice horse, but like I said I’ve only just got him, and every day I learn a lot of things with him and he’s just got better and better over time.

“I’m not sure where he’ll go from here, but I will just weigh my options up and see how he pulls up at this stage. There’s races like the Eyeliner. Something like that, there’s those type of races ... but I’m not a hundred per cent sure. I will just see how he pulls up and make my mind up. He deserved to be nearly favourite in this race. His form has been that good. He’s had seconds in a row. He’s just needed a little bit of luck. But apart from that, Jimmy did the rest for us.

Jockey Jim Cassidy (who is the only rider to have won on the horse): “I’ve won three on him, and it’s a thrill for me to win for Con (Karakatsanis), a young boy starting off and doing a great job with a horse that was superb today. He is a young up and coming trainer. He did trial very nice. Con was very confident today. It was a nice ride and it was great to win for him. I sort of find that if you keep him away from the other horses he ... funnily enough when I gave him a dig he wanted to lay out a bit today. He’s a horse with a lot of ability, but he’s just got to do things right and then things need go right on the day for him. What’s the track like after that race? Good for growing potatoes.”

Nobody could begrudge News Alert this success as it came off the back of no less than five successive second placed finishes dating back to November 2008.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (News Alert): 4.60 in to 4.40.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Larry Cassidy (She’s In The Guide) said that the horse was racing in a nasal strip today for the first time and he thought on the way to the barrier that this may not have suited She’s In The Guide. He said after being boxed she was very restless in the gates and missed the start badly. After this he said that She’s In The Guide did not handle the track conditions today at any stage and was very disappointing. After the race She’s In The Guide was examined by the veterinary surgeon who said that the horse was making an abnormal breathing noise and he recommended that before She’s In The Guide races again a veterinary certificate of fitness be produced which must include the results of an endoscopic examination.