EF FEB 27 - TONKATSU GIVES TAYLOR A TREBLE

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Eagle Farm, February 27, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - out 3m.
Class 6 Plate (Set Weights) - 1000m. Time: 58.95. (Carrying 52.5kg).
1 Tonkatsu; 2 Growsir; 3 Wild Wilbur.

Jockey Jason Taylor rounded off a very successful afternoon when he completed a personal treble on the day by guiding the Helen Page trained Tonkatsu to victory in the final race on the card.

It was Taylor’s most uncomplicated win of the afternoon both in the manner in which the race unfolded and the margin of victory.

With nobody else keen on the role, Tonkatsu led early and she took the field through the first 400m without doing any work at all. Taylor quickened the tempo slightly approaching the turn and early in the straight Tonkatsu already had just under a two length lead over Admiral Gherkin, who was her closest rival at that time ... and Taylor still hadn’t put his foot on the accelerator.

Admiral Gherkin wacked away for the first half of the straight, but he was a spent force inside the final 200m. Growsir tracked very wide in search of the better going his jockey hoped would help propel him to the front, but that didn’t happen ... and Wild Wilbur ran on from too far back too late for his effort to be of any real consequence.

All the while Tonkatsu continued on her merry way, almost in a race of her own. All Taylor had to do was concentrate on keeping the four-year-old focussed over the last 200m as she strode to the line to complete a comprehensive victory, the fifth of her career.

The authority that Tonkatsu placed over proceedings is highlighted by the fact that she finished 2.50 lengths clear of Growsir and a full 6.50 lengths ahead of the third placed Wild Wilbur as she led a procession home.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Helen Page: “She is a nice clean-winded mare ... easy to train. She likes the wet.

“Look, everyone’s worried about her going beyond the 1000 in future and not getting the 1200m. It is only because of the programming and the type of mare she is that I’ve programmed her for the 900m races that suit her up to now.

“There is not much work involved and she was very lightly trained as a younger horse.

“She’s getting older now and we are just stepping her up in distance and working her a little bit harder.”

Jockey Jason Taylor: “She’s a quick horse. I rode it in the Bat Out Of Hell (when the mare finished 3.80 lengths behind Burdekin Blues) where she ran a respectable race behind Burdekin Blues and Azzaland.

“It’s won on the wet. It likes the wet track. When I was talking to Helen (Page) about the horse prior to the race, you know, we were of the opinion that if it brought the form it had shown in its previous runs, she would be hard to beat.

“She jumped good ... put itself into the lead and it was all over. The late scratchings just made her job a lot easier. She travelled beautifully the whole run and when I gave her a little dig in the straight she let down really well.

“Yeah it does feel good to ride a treble at a city meeting. They are few and far between.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Tonkatsu): 6.00 out to 6.50.
Favourite (Wild Wilbur): 3.00 in to 2.80 out to 3.20. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
The following runners were declared late scratchings following applications by trainers subsequent to the downgrading of the track: Guru (4.30 p.m.), Mazuka (4.30 p.m.) and Pimpala Cobber (4.35 pm).

Shorephil (Michael Palmer) was slow to begin.

Apprentice L. Rolls reported that in his opinion Moonan Kathleen failed to handle the prevailing track conditions today. A post-race veterinary examination of Moonan Kathleen failed to reveal any abnormalities.

Stewards sought an explanation from G. Lynch, the rider of Sir Monashee, in respect to his apparent failure to take a position closer to the lead which availed itself near the 800m between Wild Wilbur (B. Stewart) and Song For Guy (C. McIver).

G Lynch stated that he had been instructed to settle Sir Monashee towards the rear of the field and position the horse to the outside in the home straight, thereby enabling it a clear and uninterrupted path to the finishing line.

Trainer D. Bell confirmed the instructions and advised stewards that Sir Monashee possesses a short sprint and is best ridden in a fashion that allows it to exhibit this turn of foot in the latter stages of the race.

Taylor