EF MAR 20 - JASMINKA SHOWS A TOUCH OF CLASS

By Graham Potter | Monday, March 22, 2010

Eagle Farm, March 20, 2010.
Track - Good 3. Rail - True.
Class 6 Handicap (Mares 4yo & Up) - 1200m. Time: 1-10.56. (Carrying 57kg).
1 Jasminka; 2 Morgalicious; 3 General Secretary.

The Brian Smith trained Jasminka was backing up after running second to General Secretary the week before and this time around she made no mistake when landing the fourth win of her career.

The mare had run into traffic problems last start and she was a red hot favourite to set the record straight and she did that in no uncertain terms.

The lightly raced four-year-old landed third, settled fourth and tracked the pace until the turn where she cornered four wide, a little over a length off the front-running General Secretary, who likewise was backing up after her success last week.

Jockey Larry Cassidy hardly moved on Jasminka as the mare cruised to the lead in seemingly effortless fashion with 250m left to run. Over the last 150m Cassidy just pushed his mount out hands and heels to ensure she maintained a comfortable advantage, which she did with the minimum of fuss, to come home untested with 2.50 lengths to spare at the line.

Jasminka is now in her second preparation since transferring to the Smith stable for which she has won three out of five starts. She finished second and third in her other two outings since relocating from Shaune Richie’s New Zealand based stable.

Jasminka has always shown promise. In her five starts for Ritchie prior to moving to Queensland, Jasminka won her Maiden at her second start. She then jumped straight to Listed company where she finished second on the Ryder Stakes at Foxton and third in the Breeders’ Stakes at Ruakaka.

Richie then took Jasminka across to Warwick Farm for the Group 3 Silver Shadow Stakes where, although finishing unplaced, she showed to good advantage to finish only 1.30 lengths behind no less a contender than the mighty Samantha Miss.

A bright future beckons.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Brian Smith: “Last week put her on her toes (when finishing second, a neck behind General Secretary). She should have just won and won easily. She got held up badly the other day.

She pulled up so well. After last week’s run she was just bubbling over. There’s a 1500m race for her in a fortnight. That’s why I ran her here otherwise it would have been three weeks between runs ... but this was just a mares race for her saying ‘come and get me’, wasn’t it? After that next run we’ll look at raiding Sydney for the Emancipation Stakes.

“I rarely run them a week later. I wouldn’t do it twice in a year after first-up, but she’s just been that well and she is a class act. She’s a terrific mare."

Jockey Larry Cassidy: “She has got good gate speed if you want to use it. She will settle if you jump and leave her alone. I think she is better coming off the speed. She’s got a really terrific finish.

“The other day she drew slightly awkward. If I’d have gone forward I was going to be deep. She should have won. If I’d taken off at the 600 she would have won, but if she had got beat I would have been filthy on myself because it would have been a terribly hard run and it would have knocked her about. You know, as it was, we didn’t have the breaks and we got beat.

“Today, it was just a matter of getting in the right spot. Slowly run race... I was able to nurse her and she was too good.

“I think she is up to the Sydney standard. I think she has got a bit of class about her. I can see her winning a Group race. It is just a matter of how big a Group race it can win. I think the (Group 1) Winter Stakes is her race.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Jasminka): 1.60 out to 1.65.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Kootenannie (J. Taylor) was slow to begin. Plenty Of Practise (O. Turpin) jumped away awkwardly and lost ground.

Plenty Of Practise, Beyonce's Star (C. Munce) and Morgalicious (B. El-Issa) over-raced in the early stages.

Near the 1000m, Morgalicious had to be eased to avoid the heels of Jasminka (L. Cassidy), which when being steadied shifted in. L. Cassidy, rider of Jasminka, was advised to exercise greater care when shifting ground in future.

In the home straight, Cicarelli (T. Bell) was unable to obtain clear running behind the heels of General Secretary (M. Cahill) and as a result Cicarelli went to the line not fully tested.

Plenty Of Practise, Beyonce's Star and Bluchelle (M. Speers) all raced wide throughout.