DOOM JAN 26 - RED SPHERE STILL HAS WHAT IT TAKES

By Graham Potter | Thursday, January 28, 2010

Doomben, January 26, 2010.
Track - Good 2. Rail - out 0.5m.
Open Handicap - 1350m. Time: 1-18.19. (Carrying 54.5kg).
1 Red Sphere; 2 Charming Rogue; 3 Pertinence.

Age hasn’t taken much away from the ability and fighting qualities of the eight-year-old gelding Red Sphere who yet again turned in a spirited performance to complete back-to-back wins.

After beginning well jockey John Byrne, who, at that stage was looking for his fourth winner at the meeting, allowed the John Morrisey trained gelding to settle at a comfortable gallop a couple of lengths off the speed in the early part.

Red Sphere straightened in fourth spot, three wide and close enough to be perfectly poised to strike. Byrne was still content to let his mount merely lope along early in the straight but, once the runners narrowly ahead of him started to tread water and being fully aware of the threat that Charming Rogue posed from behind, Byrne went for his mount inside the 250m and Red Sphere immediately picked up the tempo.

That move was made at exactly the right time because a split second later Charming Rogue was in full cry after Red Sphere. As Red Sphere claimed the lead at the 150m mark, he had Charming Rogue in tow and the latter was gradually eating into Red Sphere’s advantage.

That’s where Red Sphere’s character kicked in. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. As it turned out, he had enough fight in him to prevail by a head to record the eight win of his career and push his career earnings up to just shy of $250000.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Scott Morrisey (stable spokesman for the John Morrisey stable): “I was just saying to Jim (Byrne), I hope you can make it four (winners). When a jockey sort of rides three winners before they get to your horse ... you just hope they can keep going.

“He is such a good, old horse. He has been so honest. I don’t think he has ever run a bad race. If you look at the form and it says he has it’s probably because he was drawn sixteen out of sixteen or something like that. You know what I mean. There would have been a reason for it.

“He is just such an honest, old horse, you know, and to have won two out of three this prep as an eight-year-old is fantastic.”

Jockey Jim Byrne: “Yeah, the race panned out pretty much as I thought it would. He is the sort of horse you don’t want to hit the front too early. I actually thought Sommersea Drive might take us into the straight a little bit more than he did.

“When he (Sommersea Drive) dropped off I knew Charming Rogue would be basically on my back. He would be peeling out and he’s got a good turn of foot so, in the end, I thought we might as well go for broke and see what we come up with.

“It was a pretty impressive win last time (at the Gold Coast). He probably got to the front really softly that day too and then he dug deep. He is the sort of horse you really only want to get to the front about the furlong.

“Full credit to John (Morrisey) and his staff. They’ve done a great job.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Red Sphere): 3.00 in to 2.50.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Cocktail Supreme (J. Taylor) was slow to begin.

App M. Hellyer the rider of Sommersea Drive reported that in the early stages he was content to trail Red Sphere (J. Byrne) however, when he saw J. Byrne take hold he was concerned that the pace would slacken considerably and bearing in mind his mount had a tendency to over-race he felt that it was in his mount's best interests to progress forward to the position outside the leader.

More articles