FEB 10 - THE WEDNESDAY WRAP

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, February 10, 2010

As always, there were several points of interest away from the core action during the last seven days. Most Wednesdays, as we prepare to move ahead and gain momentum towards another big weekend of racing, HRO will pause and gather a small cross-section of the more interesting occurrences during the last seven days and reflect briefly on those moments.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Yes I did get under his whip arm and impede his riding action. That is right within the rules of racing.”

That was jockey Shane Scriven defending a protest lodged by Jason Taylor in the seventh race at Ipswich last Friday. Taylor had protested against Academy Magic being declared the winner on the grounds that it had interfered with his mount Howgoodsthat when it shifted in and got his horse unbalanced over the last 100m.

Taylor’s response was, “I doubt that rule about impeding another rider’s action is in the book. I think it is called interference.”

“You could have changed hands and switched your whip from left to right if you needed to,” argued Scriven.

“I’m not obliged to,” countered Taylor ... and so the give and take inside the protest hearing continued.

Adding a further twist to an already interesting objection was the fact that Scriven, the rider of Academy Magic who crossed the line in first place, lodged an objection of his own, in case Taylor’s protest was successful. First against second on the grounds of interference over the last 50m ... now that’s something you don’t see every day!

Scriven’s comment appeared to be debatable to say the least, but the jury call did not need to go to the second objection as they decided to dismiss Taylor’s protest as per this report from the stewards’ room.

‘After hearing evidence from all parties and viewing the film, stewards were of the view that whilst Academy Magic shifted in after leaving the 100m, Howgoodsthat shifted out and both horses raced in close proximity over the concluding stages. The protest was dismissed and in dismissing the protest stewards were not satisfied that the incident had materially affected the result of the race.’

The official winning distance was a nose.


THERE'S NOTHING TO FORGIVE:
Plain Magic, with four successive wins under her belt, is the flavour of the month and rightly so.
She comfortably beat Chakvetadze into second place at Doomben on Saturday to extend an already impressive sequence of success and her solid run of results clearly stands as a credit to the team behind her. Take a bow the Kelly Schweida stable!

But don’t right off Chakvetadze!

In their previous clash at Eagle Farm on January 23 Plain Magic had ended Chakvetadze’s unbeaten run. Plain Magic carried 4.5kg less than Chakvetadze that day and she beat the Michael Nolan trained runner home by 2.80 lengths.

On Saturday the handicapper brought these two runners 2kg closer together at the weights, with Plain Magic only getting a 2.5kg pull this time around and her winning margin duly diminished coming down to 1.30 lengths.

Chakvetadze raced like she might appreciate more ground and she also might need more experience before actually, believe it or not, showing her best. This was only her ninth run after all.

Before the race it was pointed out that punters had forgiven Chakvetadze her previous failure and that she would start favourite. The stewards’ report told of a change of tactics. The horse would be ridden back today, ‘in light of the recent failure of Chakvetadze when leading’...

‘Forgiven’ ... ‘previous failure’ ... ‘recent failure’ ... really are terms used to justify false expectations. Chakvetadze won her first seven starts in succession then, surprise, surprise, she had an off-day, before finishing second here behind a quality performer, while giving weight to her conqueror.

The bottom line of Saturday’s feature race result is ... all power to Plain Magic, but don’t right off Chakvetadze!

And by the way, there is nothing to forgive!


CUSHION COMFORT:
The Cushion Track at the Sunshine Coast fulfilled the role it was meant for when racing went ahead at the Coloundra track on Sunday in spite of a spate of heavy rainfall which would have wiped out any meeting on the grass.

It is as an alternative track that the Cushion surface has its prime value. (It’s other plus is as a training track).

But while the track itself successfully drained the vast influx of water, the parade ring area from the entrance to the mounting yard to the viewing pathways along which the horses walk to the return to scale area had no such drainage advantage.

The weight of the repeated downpours already had the drains under pressure and debris washed down from the stabling area also threatened to block overworked drains. They had to be cleared manually and it was the club Chief Executive Mick Sullivan who put on his gumboots, rolled up his sleeve and went to work to help ensure that his club’s meeting would go on as scheduled.

Jockey Damian Browne rode the first two winners on the card giving Off My Rocker and Harney little more than a training gallop as they both claimed the first wins of their respective careers.

While some were worried at the start of the meeting about the conditions and possible visibility problems during the afternoon, Browne was quite certain the meeting would be completed without any trouble at all.

For somebody who has a lot of experience riding in worse conditions in New Zealand, the weather at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday must have seemed like a light drizzle.

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