SCST FEB 28 - AESSEX KICKS OFF IN WINNING VEIN

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Sunshine Coast, February 28, 2010.
Track - Cushion.
QTIS 600 2yo Maiden Plate (Set Weights) - 1000m. Time: 1-01.75 (Carrying 57kg).
1 Aessex; 2 Bradbury's Fortune; 3 Count Spur.

The Jeffrey Caught trained Aessex, a good-looking chestnut, made a winning start to his career when he finished over the top of Bradbury’s Fortune in the third race at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday to win by a neck.

The son of Jet Spur jumped well enough and jockey Chris Munce settled Aessex in third spot early, one off the rail. As moves came on either side of him in the sweep to the turn, Aessex was shuffled back to fifth spot, racing two wide, and he was three lengths off the front-running Bradbury’s Fortune on straightening.

Aessex was keen to run, but had little idea of what was required of him. As Count Spur moved up to try and pressure Bradbury’s Fortune up front, Munce asked Aessex to shift out marginally to try to get into clear running to the outside of Count Spur. Aessex shifted out on cue, but then wanted to duck in … then he wasn’t certain if he needed to go out again.

The bottom line was that, in spite of his inexperience, Aessex was closing ground on the leaders and Munce continued to coax him forward. Inside the last 150m Aessex got the message and his ability kicked in to over-ride his greenness.

The chestnut stretched out well, going past Count Spur, who had failed to reel in Bradbury’s Fortune, with 50m left to run … and his momentum then carried him up to and past Bradbury’s Fortune in the shadow of the post to claim an eye-catching debut victory.

WINNER FEEDBACK: “We bought him at the QTIS sale last year in March. He’s been a good horse so far. He’s taken a while to mature, but he’s going well. He’s improved and he’ll take that race experience with him now.

“Where we go from here I don’t know. I just do one thing at a time. But that was worth $20000 because he is QTIS 600 (registered) … $20000 is a good bonus to start with.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Aessex): 5.00 out to 5.50.
Favourite (Count Spur): 1.70 out to 1.90. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Crown The Warrior (T. Huxham), Princess Condor (A. Spinks) and Ice Apple (J. Holder) were slow to begin. Count Spur (J. Byrne) began awkwardly.

Espanol Brillo (M. Palmer) raced greenly in the early and middle stages. Aessex (C. Munce) raced greenly when placed under pressure over the final 200m. Secret Safari (J. Taylor) and Alex's Dragon (G. Killen) raced wide for the majority of the event.