SCST DEC 20 - ANDY SAID BY A WHISKER

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Sunshine Coast, December 20, 2009.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3m.
Class 2 Handicap - 1400m. Time: 1-25.41.
1 Andy Said; 2 Shocking Blue; 3 Hawkeye Pierce.

In a day of close finishes, the narrowest winning margin belonged to the Carmel Richardson trained Andy Said who ousted the favourite Shocking Blue by a nose in the final race on the card.

Andy Said was stepping up in distance here and he improved his strike-rate to a useful three wins from ten starts.

The gelding landed in the leading line, but was then eased back to take the sit in the box seat racing third along the rail behind Ardmilan and Shocking Blue. Approaching the turn Shocking Blue moved alongside Ardmilan and quickly left that one behind, but jockey Tyrone Huxham was alert to that move and he quickly pushed Andy Said up along the inside early in the straight to join issue with the main fancy.

Andy Said narrowly headed Shocking Blue at the 200m, but the latter was far from finished yet and he came back again over the concluding stages to join Andy Said in a nail-biting, head-bobbing finish which went the way of Andy Said by the narrowist of margins.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Carmel Richardson: “I did think he’d won. He needed that step up in distance (from 1200m to 1400m). He’s probably going to run a little bit further. You know he only just won, but I thought it wasn’t a bad effort.

“He’ll fight till he drops, yeah, and he only a little fella. That’s why we put him in a Class 2 just to drop back in weight a bit. He’s been carrying 59’s all the time in those three-year-old races. It was too much. The plan worked. It was beautiful.”

Jockey Tyrone Huxham: “I was instructed just to box seat, which we did. Straightened up and started to kick. He started to labour a little bit, but once I got him with the stick he kicked again and got the money, so it is all good.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Red Rocker was declared a late scratching at 3.32 on veterinary advice. The Lording Dragon (M. Hellyer) and Arizona Sunset (M. Radecker) were both a little slow to begin.

Raining Kings (A. Smith) raced wide for the majority of the race.