DOOM FEB 06 - FOUR-IN-A-ROW FOR PLAIN MAGIC

By Graham Potter | Monday, February 8, 2010

Doomben, February 6, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 5.5m.
Fillies & Mares Quality Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-09.09. (Carrying 55.5kg).
1 Plain Magic; 2 Chakvetadze; 3 Inanna.

The Kelly Schweida trained Plain Magic made it four wins in a row and took her overall record to seven wins from fifteen starts, with earnings of over $400000, when she landed the feature race at Doomben on Saturday in commanding fashion.

The daughter of Magic Albert has not put a foot wrong since jockey Jim Byrne got on her this prep and Schweida is quick to acknowledge the understanding that exists between horse and rider, a factor which has been an integral part of Plain Magic’s run of success.

Plain Magic landed in the lead but when Inanna showed her intention to lead Byrne was happy to let Inanna go forward and he slipped in behind to take the trail on Inanna some two lengths behind the leader in the early part. At that stage the favourite Chakvetadze was racing second last, some three length adrift of Plain Magic.

Byrne did not extend the courtesy of allowing Inanna some freedom up front to the home straight. He pushed Plain Magic up to challenge Inanna immediately on straightening and Plain magic rolled to the front with 250m left to run. With Inanna beaten and Chakvetadze struggling to find a rhythm and labouring in the chase, Plain Magic had the race at her mercy if she could maintain her effort over the concluding stages.

There was still work to do so as there was no let-up to the line but, as she has done before, Plain Magic produced the goods to beat Chakvetadze to the line by a convincing 1.30 lengths.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Kelly Schweida: “I hate to sound too confident, but I really thought she was unbeatable. Sure I can say that after the race.

“It is only her fifth run in and she is still on the up but she’ll get three or four weeks off now. That was her sort of a gut-buster run her last start. She sort of had to pull out everything.

“She recovered really good, but it did take a bit out of her last start. Hopefully, the theory is that they don’t need a lot of time off. The races in the carnival are on you pretty quick.

“She’s got to lift a couple of lengths for the carnival. You’ve got the southerners coming up, but she can’t do more than she’s doing now.

“Yeah, I just left it up to Jimmy (Byrne). He knows her backwards. He can do anything with her. He thought that maybe Jason Taylor might kick up (aboard Inanna), but she is so explosive out of the gates he was going to pressure them early and then see what happens.

“Jimmy said from the wide gate he couldn’t afford to be in two minds otherwise he would be in trouble, so he had to put the foot to the floor early and make the decision. He said he didn’t want to be in two minds out of that seven alley. He said he was going to be positive out of the gates ... get there ... and then see what happens. He didn’t want two to three kicking up inside him.

Jockey Jim Byrne: “She is an on-speed runner. Early on in her career we used to ride her quiet ... midfield sort of thing. The one thing with her is that as soon as those gates open she is straight on the bunny and, lo and behold, you end up dragging her back because you think you are too close with her.

“Ever since I’ve been riding her the last couple of times she has bounced out and put herself straight in the race. I was saying to Kelly (Schweida) as soon as the gates open she basically jumps straight out and straight on to the bit and you cross them so quickly by the time you get to relax that is when everybody else is more or less only picking themselves and getting into the race.

“Kelly told me that last run probably did take a lot out of her. This week here she was really bouncing out of her skin though so she was always going to give us a good run today.

“She’ll go out for a spell now. Once she gets back I do believe she is good enough to race in the Winter Stakes ... races such as that. You know, she’s won four straight now and beaten the best that we’ve got.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Plain Magic): 3.40 out to 3.60.
Favourite (Chakvetadze): 2.60 out to 2.80 in to 2.60. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Trainer M. Nolan reported to stewards that in light of the recent failure of Chakvetadze when leading, he instructed S. Katsidis to ride the mare from a midfield or rearward position today. Chakvetadze was ridden accordingly.

Near the 400m, Dance Girl Dance (L. Cassidy) and Kryptelon (J. Bowditch) were forced to race in restricted room to the inside of Shakeva (D. Craven). D. Craven, rider of Shakeva, was cautioned and instructed to provide more room to runners on his inside. Shakeva raced three wide throughout.

When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of Kryptelon, J. Bowditch explained that the mare travelled well in the early stages, however did race in restricted room rounding the home turn, and when asked for an effort in the straight, Kryptelon did not finish the race off today as it had in the past.

Trainer D. Kelly reported the horse when racing in restricted room had sustained a laceration which may have affected its performance today. A post-race veterinary examination of Kryptelon revealed the horse had sustained a laceration to the near-fore pastern.