DOOM JAN 30 - DEALERS’ DOUBLE SUCCESS

By Graham Potter | Monday, February 1, 2010

Doomben, January 30, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3.5m.
Class 6 Plate (Set Weights) - 1350m. Time: 1.19.84. (Carrying 53kg).
1 Dealers; 2 Casholet; 3 Pride Of Power.

Trainer Sue Grills has enjoyed the first month of the new year. In the past two weeks she has paid two visits to Brisbane. On both occasions she brought two runners, Ollie Vollie and Dealers, to town from her Tamworth base. On both occasions she had two winners.

Grills says she will be back ... and, on her January showing, punters should diarise those dates once they are known.

Dealers did it tough all of the way to secure his second successive win. The six-year-old jumped from a wide draw and he was held three to four wide throughout as he chased the leader (The Sixties) in sixth and then fifth placing. Apprentice jockey urged Dealers up to fourth approaching the turn and he cornered four wide, right alongside the third placed Casholet, well poised to strike.

Grills will tell you that Dealers doesn’t like to be trapped between horses ... and she knows her horse better than anybody ... so the downside of Dealers covering extra ground had a positive play in that Dealers was comfortable being allowed to run his own race, unimpeded by traffic stress.

The bottom line though, was that option meant that Dealers had been working hard early to secure a position close enough to the lead. The question at the top of the straight was whether he could find the extra required to remain competitive all the way to the line.

That he could!

As Casholet put in the big bounds and began to reel in the front-runner, Dealers went with the Bryan Guy trained runner. The Sixties fought on briefly before surrendering the lead, Elusive Port flattered to deceive along the inside running rail and the main fancy Pride Of Power started to stretch out from behind, but inside the final 100m it came down to a straight fight between Casholet and Dealers.

Had Dealers had to settle for second best it would still have translated into a very good run, but neither he nor jockey Tim Bell were inclined to accept that result. They never stopped trying and, working in tandem like any good team, Dealers and Bell were able to snare Casholet in the last two strides to get up by a half-neck margin.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Sue Grills: “The horse just doesn’t want to be crowded. He doesn’t like to be on the fence. He hates being cluttered up. You get him out, he seems to race better.

“Peter (Snowden, the previous trainer of the horse) said, don’t crowd him. Peter has been so honest with his advice all through with Dealers so I’ve got him to thank. Tim (Bell) doesn’t panic on him. The horse is a tough old fellow. He just keeps coming.

“I’ll have to come back here again now, but every-time I make big plans they come unstuck. So, I’ll just take him home and see how they travel. I’ve had two trips here in two weeks. Maybe I’ll give them three or four weeks this time, you know. It depends when the races suit them.

“We will be back though. I’ve got to come back.”

Apprentice jockey Tim Bell: “From the wide barrier, as soon as I saw the acceptances I was a bit nervous, you know. But look, he is the sort of horse that doesn’t like to be crowded so it was actually a bit of a blessing that we drew out there, and I honestly think (the track) is favouring towards the outside now that it is chopped up towards the rail.

“I lost confidence a few times during the run but, you know, he is just so tough ... he toughed it out all the way to the line.

“There wasn’t a great deal of pace and the leader had it pretty easy so I had to make a run. This is my first city treble but there’s another bridge to cross. Hopefully there can be a fourth winner now.”

One race later, Bell brought home his fourth winner at the meeting in the form of Fantastic Blue.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Dealers): 6.00 out to 8.00 out to 9.00.
Favourite (Pride Of Power): 4.00 out to 4.60 in to 4.40. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Mr Orient (L. Cassidy) was slow to begin. Shortly after the start Mr Orient was tightened for room between Tenfold (L. Rolls) and Pride Of Power (J. Bowditch), both of which shifted ground.

Casholet (Matthew Palmer) over-raced for a short distance approaching the 800m. Dealers (T. Bell) and Kneel And Raise (K. Banks) raced wide throughout. Mr Orient was momentarily held up for clear running rounding the home turn.

Stewards sought an explanation from J. Bowditch in respect to the tactics employed on Pride Of Power which saw the horse racing in a rearward position.

Bowditch stated that the horse jumped away awkwardly and shifted in and shortly after he commenced to ride Pride Of Power along in an endeavour to take up a handy position as instructed, however after reaching the course proper he observed both Elusive Port (B. Pengelly) and Tenfold
racing quite strongly to his inside and in his opinion he would have had to use his horse considerably in an endeavour to cross those horses to take a position closer to the fence.

J. Bowditch added that he therefore decided to restrain and take up a position closer to the rail behind those runners.

Jockey Brad Pengelly reported that Elusive Port enjoyed a nice run throughout the course of the race, however failed to finish off in its customary fashion and in his opinion had reached the end of its preparation.