EF DEC 12 - RASMUSSEN LAYS DOWN THE LAW

By Graham Potter | Monday, December 14, 2009

Eagle Farm, December 12, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 1m.
2MW Last Year Handicap (Special Conditions) - 1200m. Time: 1-09.77.
1 Rasmussen; 2 Dalzar; 3 Daunting Lad.

Rasmussen gave the Heinrich/Katsidis combination a race-to-race double when he outgunned his opposition to win a little bit more easily than the one length margin suggests. The result also gave Katsidis a treble at the meeting.

Just as he had done on Military Rose the race before, Katsidis chased Rasmussen from the wide barrier and crossed the field to lead early. Once there, Katsidis’ experience ensured that Rasmussen was perfectly rated up front.

Upilio, who likewise jumped from a wide barrier, chased forward when caught wide and went up to try and pressure the leader approaching the turn. That was a fair enough tactic considering the fact that Upilio had a 6kg weight advantage over Rasmussen, but Rasmussen soon showed just why he had been given top weight.

With Katsidis sticking steadfastly to his game-plan, Rasmussen resolutely kept Upilio back in second placing for most of the length of the straight. When Upilio’s challenge ran out of steam late, Dalzar and Daunting Lad pushed up to earn second and third placing respectively, but all were only playing second fiddle to Rasmussen who had controlled the course of events from start to finish.

Rasmussen was dropping back in distance here from 1350m to 1200m. This was Rasmussen’s tenth career victory. Eight of those wins have come over the 1200m trip.

WINNERS FEEDBACK:
Trainer Gillian Heinrich: “He’s a lovely old horse. Sound as a bell. He’s been a great horse for us ... one of my favourites. He’s had quite a good prep before this, but just kept missing out, you know.” (Rasmussen had finished second in his previous two starts, both over 1350m).

“Obviously the 1200m is more his go. You know the 1350m ... he struggles with that last 50m. Yeah, he made no mistake today.”

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: “If you ride him pretty, you get him beat sort of thing. That is pretty well what Gillian (Heinrich) told me. So I thought I’d be really aggressive even if I had to use him a lot early. I did ... and then I only probably gave him a breather for two or three hundred metres.

“With that sort of weight he hasn’t got any sort of sprint about him. He just keeps grinding them into the ground, so I was off and sort of running on him again from the 600. I did try to hold on to him until the 200m. I gave him a couple of back-handers then and he seemed to respond quite well.

“He was giving every horse in the race four or five kilos. It was a super win.”

“When he finds a decent race with speed it sort of brings him un-done. He gets uncomfortable. But, in these little bit easier races, he almost toys with them. Hopefully one day he will win a nice race, but at the moment he’s killing them in these ones.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Rasmussen): 3.00 out to 3.30 in to 3.10.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Near the 1000m, Crosswise (M. Speers) had to be steadied when momentarily tightened for room by Daunting Lad (J. Holder), which was taken in by Rasmussen (S. Katsidis). Cocktail Supreme (M. Cahill), which was following, also had to be steadied as a consequence.

Crosswise (M. Speers) had difficulty obtaining clear running over the final 100m and near the finish line had to be steadied when disappointed for a run between Daunting Lad and Upilio (C. McIver), which shifted out slightly under pressure.

Gallium (L. Rolls), Agnes Dream (S. Seamer), Myndos (B. Pengelly) and Chilled (L. Cassidy) all raced wide throughout.

Apprentice C. McIver, rider of Upilio, reported that he was obliged to improve forward mid race to a position outside the leader when it was evident he was going to be obliged to race extremely wide.

A post race veterinary examination of Chilled and Lucky Luna failed to reveal any significant abnormalities.