DOOM FEB 06 - ROYALAZ GIVES A COMMANDING PERFORMANCE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Doomben, February 6, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 5.5.
Class 6 Plate (Set Weights) - 1200m. Time: 1-09.61. (Carrying 51kg).
1 Royalaz; 2 Joint Chiefs; 3 Cat Eyes.

The Patrick Ryan trained Royalaz finished as a beaten favourite in his previous start where the slow early pace took the edge off his chance of victory. This time around, at Doomben on Saturday, the gelding thrived on a decent speed and duly produced the goods to the cost of most punters who had jumped ship after that last hiccup. Royalaz started at $11.00.

The fact that Royalaz jumped from the extreme outside draw in the fifteen runners would have been one reason to put a question mark behind the Royalaz’s name. With the speed on early though, as a pack of runners hunted up to try to gain an early advantage, apprentice jockey Michael Palmer was able to allow the five-year-old to settle into a comfortable gallop in the second half of the field until the sweep to the turn.

Here, Palmer switched Royalaz out and asked his mount to go forward. In a sweeping run, Royalaz quickly made up ground out wide. On straightening, Rayalaz cornered all of seven wide, but was quite unfazed by the extra ground he was covering.

On the contrary, Royalaz looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself as he continued his long, sustained run.

Royalaz had effectively pulled wide at the 600 and run right around and past ten opponents to get to the lead inside the 150m and he never missed a beat in the final run to the line to complete a commanding performance as he left the chasers behind to sort of the minor placings.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Patrick Ryan: “Initially his last run I was probably a length disappointed, but then I looked at the sectionals and they ran nearly 37 the first half and under 33 for the last half so it made it impossible to make ground.

“Today with the tempo to suit ... you know, Michael (Palmer) rode him during the week and got a feel for the horse. I said, just ride him on a nice long rein where he is comfortable ... and he rode him beautifully.

“Yeah, there was a gear change. I did remove the bit lifter today. He actually had it on his previous runs. I don’t know why the race-book said it was the first time on last time ... but I did remove it on the Larry’s advice (Larry Cassidy rode the horse last time). He’s ridden better horses than I have trained, so I thought I’d better take note of him and it’s done the trick.

“I think he is a progressive horse. We’ve only had him for the three runs. We bought him relatively cheaply. His first run I was very good I thought. His second run there were probably excuses ... and now there’s this win.

“We’ll just have to see as he goes through his classes whether he’ll make that better grade. In his early years he ran second to Ashikaga and looked like being a very promising horse. Not that his form went wayward, but maybe he was resenting city life a little bit.

“You know, I don’t take him to the track much. I pound the roads out around the Gold Coast and around the lagoon and what not. So he is getting a bit of alternate work and maybe that’s the key.”

Apprentice Jockey Michael Palmer: “With the speed on ... we obviously didn’t draw the best of barriers, so we basically had to ride for luck.

“You know we got a nice sort of run throughout and when we got to about the 600 we just tried to track up as long as we could. When he let down, he let down really well.

“There was good acceleration there. I think he is going to go through his grades up here and I look forward to riding him.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Royalaz): 11.00 out to 12.00 in to 11.00.
Favourite (Joint Chiefs): 4.60 out to 4.80. Finished second.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Pub Torque (J. Bowditch) was tightened for room on jumping away between Silvern (J. Holder) and Royalaz (M. Palmer), both of which shifted ground.

Near the 800m, Royalaz improved to the inside of Samtheflirt (L. Rolls) and in so doing tightened the running of Unintentional (C. Reith), which had to be steadied.

Silvern (J. Holder) was caught wide early and then obliged to work forward wider on the track to a point leaving the 600m where it took up the lead.

After leaving the 300m, Telesto Warrior (J. Byrne) was held up for clear running and approaching the 200m shifted out to improve and made contact with Martiros (A. Spinks). Pub Torque raced wide throughout.

Jockey S. Seamer reported that Attallus was hard ridden in the middle stages of the race, however found the line quite well. He was of the opinion that the gelding may be better suited when being stepped up in distance.

A post-race veterinary examination of Dardan revealed the gelding to be lame in the off-foreleg. Trainer T. Bailey's representative was advised that he would be required to provide a veterinary clearance for Dardan prior to its next race start.

B. Stewart, rider of Joint Chiefs, was fined $200 for returning to scale in excess of half a kilogram over his declared riding weight.

Ryan