GCST JAN 09 - POWER OF ED OVERCOMES OPPOSITION

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Monday, January 11, 2010

Gold Coast, January 09, 2010.
Track - Dead 4. Rail - Out 2m (900-400); True 400 - winning post; Out 1m - remainder.
Magic Millions 2YO Plate (Set Weights) - 1200m. Time: 1-11.35.
1 Power Of Ed; 2 Paris Blu; 3 Tricarico.

It wasn’t Plan A, which was to go forward if possible, but Plan B worked out just fine for the Helen Page trained Power Of Ed as the colt produced a measured run in the home straight to run down the early leader Paris Blu a little bit more easily than the 1.30 length winning margin suggests.

Snared back to the tail of the field by jockey Stathi Katsidis after a tardy start, Power Of Ed only started working his way into the race as the field straightened for home. He was still third last at that stage with work to do, but a marginal shift out into clear running was enough to set him on his way.

There was no instant acceleration, rather a gradual building of what was to prove to be a winning momentum. Katsidis never had to be that vigorous in the saddle and the colt seemed to be racing well within himself when he surged to the lead to put the matter beyond doubt over the concluding stages.

This was Power of Ed’s second win from only three starts. His first win came over 900m and this was a most encouraging performance as he pushed the distance envelope up to 1200m.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Helen Page: “He wasn’t ridden well last time (when finishing 8.60 lengths behind Spirit Of Boom). He wasn’t ridden well ... end of story!

“Today he was ridden like we wanted him to be ridden. I said to Stathi (Katsidis) ride him as he’s going. That’s all I said to him. He’s from a good, little family. He’s got lucky owners who are good people to train for. I love the two-year-olds. It’s great.

“It’s amazing. He is a horse that only had his first trial on December 1. I wasn’t certain how he would come back after that. In his trial he ran a faster time than Shoot Out’s trial ... so I knew I had a horse.

“We had him nominated for a race in town, but he was barrier eighteen ... scratched him. So I was having trouble qualifying. So then I ran him in a short race here (900m) and he won it, but he didn’t get enough money to qualify. So I had him nominated in town again, but that meeting was washed out, so he was unlucky not to get in the field for the big race.

“I’ll just look after him ... look after him ... put him out. It’s very hot at the moment. It’s amazing what he has done at this stage, but it is nice to see a horse that has a turn of foot. He has always shown that. He relaxes ... all the positive things. The good turn of foot ... the way he relaxes and he is pretty bold and game.

“He was beautifully broken by my spelling paddock and that all helps. It is team-work ... good staff, good riders, good people around you. You can’t do without the owners. So we’ll give him a little break now. You know, he’s won a $100000 race and on the right day. I love the Magic Millions.”

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: “It was a nice win. There were no real instructions. She (Helen Page) told me it led in a trial and that it was a little bit unlucky last week. My intention was to be positive early. I would have liked to have gone forward earlier, but it didn’t work out that way from an awkward alley.

“I couldn’t muster any speed early and I was going to be caught wide, so I just grabbed it and went back. Coming up to the 600 he got on the bit nicely. Before that I wasn’t travelling the best, but then I thought I should win from here. He took a while to pick them up, but once he did he went away from them. It was a nice win.

“He had to do the job from behind there, even though he had a nice run. The horse had to do it and Helen had him trained to be minute today. Obviously he was backing up from his run last week and for him to run as well as he did it’s full credit to Helen. The horse really did the job for me today.

“I thought there might have been a bit of an on-pace bias today, so it was good to win on a horse coming from behind. It looks like horses can win from anywhere today.

“When I got on the horse, you know ... he’s little and he’s skinny and he’s got a bit of maturing to do and he’s looking around ... even when he was winning he was looking around, so there is a lot of improvement in him and he will be a lot better horse next time in, I would say.”

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
On jumping Court Success (N. Paine) blundered and nearly fell. Tricarico (B. Rawiller) jumped awkwardly, shifted out and bumped Jenelle (B. Shinn).Court Success pulled hard in the early stages.

General Shareef (J. Byrne) laid in under pressure in the latter stages of the straight. Rounding the home turn Paris Blu (A. Pattillo) had a tendency to hang out.