EF DEC 12 - FORBES TOO GOOD ON THE DAY

By Graham Potter | Monday, December 14, 2009

Eagle Farm, December 12, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1m.
2MW Handicap (Special conditions) - 2106m. Time: 2-09.88.
1 Forbes; 2 Lucky Toss; 3 Never You Mind.

The John Wallace trained Forbes had little difficulty in accounting for his opposition here, coming with a well timed run under the urgings of in-form jockey Jim Byrne to win going away by a comfortable two length margin.

Forbes was slow away at the break and Byrne was happy to keep the gelding back at the rear of the field with Emerald Hill at a comfortable enough gallop some six lengths off the lead in the early part. Forbes held his position until pushing forward slightly to get on to the back of his market rival Never You Mind in the sweep to the turn.

Once there Byrne allowed Never You Mind to cart Forbes into the race so that when Never You Mind changed gears and went out to tackle Lucky Toss for the lead with 200m left to run, Forbes was perfectly placed to strike on the outside.

In the end, it was a grinding win as Forbes gradually pulled himself to the front, but the bottom line is that Forbes clearly carried too much fire-power for his rivals on the day as he claimed his second career win in his fifteenth start.

WINNERS FEEDBACK:
Trainer John Wallace: “He’s been unlucky, mate. The first start I gave him he chipped a bone in his joint. He had to have six months off. Got him back. He barrier trialled and he broke his splint bone in two, so he had to have another six months out. He’s only just coming good. This horse will end up a two-miler, mate. He’ll win a good race over ground.”

Jockey Jim Byrne: “Yeah, look he was a bit unlucky last start (when finishing second by a short-head behind Moon Chaser at Eagle Farm). He probably should have won that race. I was battling for a horse to get out sort of thing and he ended up finishing on. So he was pretty unlucky to get beaten the other day.

“Today it was always going to be a bit ‘iffy’ the race, you know, and they set it up nice for a back-marker.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Forbes): 3.00 out to 3.60. Equal favourite.
Equal favourirte (Never You Mind): 3.60 steady. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Connections advised that from barrier two, and if circumstances permit, Tanzill would be ridden closer to the lead. The horse was ridden accordingly.

Near the 1700m, Dawns Queen (S. Katsidis) shifted out off the heels of Never You Mind (M. Cahill), forcing Iguazu (M. Speers) three wide. Iguazu then was obliged to race three wide until assuming the lead position near the 1000m.

Passing the 1000m, Tanzill (J. Taylor) over-raced at the heels of Iguazu. Never You Mind (M. Cahill), which was following, shifted out off the heels of Tanzill, taking Dawns Queen (S. Katsidis) three wide. Dawns Queen raced three wide for the remainder of the event.

M. Cahill, rider of Never You Mind, pleaded guilty to a charge under AR137A(5)(a)(ii) in that he used his whip five times in a forehand manner prior to the 100m. M. Cahill was fined $200.