DOOM FEB 17 - CHEEKYSUE DEFIES HER OPPOSITION

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Thursday, February 18, 2010

Doomben, February 17, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - out 7.5m.
F&M Class 3 Handicap - 1200m. Time: 1-11.49. (Carrying 58kg).
1 Cheekysue; 2 Sevenspanishangels; 3 Smartaat.

The Rochelle Pereira trained Cheekysue scored a nail-biting victory when she clung on to win by a nose from the faster finishing Sevenspanishangels and Smartaat.

The mare had taken over the lead from Promo Girl some 200m into the race and she held a narrow advantage to the turn with Promo Girl sitting right along her outside poised to pounce.

At that stage Smartaat and Seqsational were sitting just off the speed with Sevenspanishangels in fifth, racing three wide, some four to five lengths off the leader.

Promo Girl wasted little time in upping the ante. She ranged up alongside Cheekysue and applied every bit of pressure available to her for almost the whole length of the straight but Cheekysue, two years older and carrying 3kg more than Promo Girl, frustrated every move of her rival.

She kicked on strongly to keep that one at bay, but her result came under threat late in the running when both Sevenspanishangels and Smartaat, who had been making up ground steadily while Cheekysue and Promo Girl were involved in their private battle, flashed up late to test Cheekysue in the final strides.

Sevenspanishangels dived on the line ... missed ... and Cheekysue was home by the proverbial nose under a fine ride by jockey Christian Reith.

Smartaat finished third, a further half-length back leaving Promo Girl having to settle for fourth spot.

Pereira’s strike-rate is catching attention. Last week she had one runner, one winner at Eagle Farm (Rogues) on Wednesday. On Thursday she had one runner, one winner at Ipswich (Last Tango). The stable then had a weekend off before scoring with Cheekysue here - Pereira’s third winner in as many meetings.

WINNER FEEDBACK
Trainer Rochelle Pereira: “We were a bit worried about the wet track, but happy she’s got through it. She’s been beaten a lip a couple times and run second, so we’re happy to get the win. I thought we got beat, but she’s obviously stuck her head out at the right time.

“I have been training for about two years. Our last seven runners we’ve had four winners, two seconds and an unplaced, so the team is doing well. I’ve got 14 horses racehorses in work. Yeah, it’s going well.”

Jockey Christian Reith: “She doesn’t have much luck with the draws, you know, and she’s always had to be used up early to get over. It was the same thing today. The weight ... she is a tough little mare. She’s done well today.

“She was definitely getting tired at the end, but she was entitled to. But like I said, it’s taken her a bit to come through this preparation.

“I knew that she would be very hard to beat. The outside alley and the weights worried me but when we hit the line I knew we’d won.

“She is starting to hit her straps now and if we can get a bit of weight off her back she should be winning a Saturday race.”

The was Cheekysue’s third win from ten starts.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Cheekysue): 2.30 out to 2.70.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Arctic Echo (S. Scriven) and Diamada (M. Hellyer) were slow to begin.

Near the 800m Promo Girl (C. Munce) shifted out around the heels of the leader Cheekysue (C. Reith). This resulted in Seqsational (J. Byrne) and Arctic Echo being taken wider on the track. Following this, Seqsational and Arctic Echo both raced three wide for the remainder of the event.

Smartaat (M. Radecker) shifted out to improve near the 300m and brushed Seqsational.

A post-race veterinary examination of Arctic Echo failed to reveal any abnormalities.

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