DOOM FEB 17 - BRAVE THE WAY FLEXES HIS MUSCLES

By Matthew Grimson and Graham Potter | Friday, February 19, 2010

Doomben, February 17, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - out 7.5m.
Class 3 Handicap (C, G & E) - 1200m. Time: 1-11.51. (Carrying 53kg).
1 Brave The Way; 2 Jackpot; 3 Rock Rave.

He’s big. He’s bulky. He takes some time to get going ... but he takes some stopping when he comes home at a full gallop. That’s a brief description of the Alan Bailey trained BraveThe Way, who made it two wins from four starts when he bullied Jackpot out of the number one spot in the closing stages to land a second successive win by a long-neck margin.

The gelding, who jumped from the number one alley, tried to hold the rail at the start, but jockey Scott Seamer judiciously eased his mount back out of the initial speed battle to which he was unsuited and settled sixth on the rail in the early part.

That move was voluntary. Brave The Way’s further backward move was not. He had nowhere to go in the sweep to the turn and, as a consequence, he was shuffled back to last place by the time the field turned for home.

Big and ungainly, Brave The Way took some time and a lot of persuasion to get into a competitive stride but, once he did, he stormed into contention and his finishing effort was good enough to run down the long-time leader Jackpot, who had looked the likely winner with 150m left to run.

It was a big win by the big fella who clearly is still learning his trade.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Alan Bailey: “He is only a young horse who has only had four starts, you know. This was a good effort fresh first-up over the distance (1200m). On his run last time (when winning over 1600m at the end of his first prep) he’ll run 2000m and more.

“We hope to keep him going into the carnival. That’s why we put him out for a while. He’s had about four months out waiting to line him up for the carnival and a couple of other races.”

Jockey Scott Seamer: “He is a nice horse. He hasn’t had many starts. Each time he goes to the races he’ll just keep improving ... and he’ll go further for sure. Like today he was a bit fresh and he hit the line well. Typical Alan Bailey horse. He is just going to get better each time he goes around.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Brave The Way): 3.60 out to 4.20.
Favourite (Aqua Calda): 3.00 out to 3.40. Finished eighth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Jackpot (M. Speers) shifted in at the start and hampered Apache Pup (J. Byrne).

Sequiz (C. Munce) and Brave The Way (S. Seamer) over-raced in the early stages. Apache Pup raced three wide throughout without cover. Brave The Way was held up rounding the home turn.

Approaching the 100m J. Byrne, the rider of Apache Pup, had his whip struck from his grasp by the whip of S. Seamer, the rider of Brave The Way.

R. McMahon, the rider of Aqua Calda, which performed poorly, explained that the gelding never travelled well and failed to respond to his riding rounding the home turn and in his view was disappointing. A post-race veterinary examination of Aqua Calda revealed no obvious abnormalities.

S. Seamer was reprimanded under AR. 137A(5)(a)(ii) for using his whip on six occasions in a forehand manner on Brave The Way prior to the 100m.