EF JUNE 05 - SET FOR FAME SIMPLY TOO STRONG

By Graham Potter and Matthew Grimson | Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Eagle Farm, June 5, 2010.
Dane Ripper Stakes (Group 2 - F&M - Set Weights) - 1400m.
Time: 1-22.58. (Carrying 56kg).
Track - Good 3. Rail - True.
1 Set For Fame; 2 Acquired; 3 Wealth Princess.

Trainer Peter Moody was happy enough, but he was not ecstatic after Set For Fame's solid win in the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes at Eagle Farm.

The reason for that was Moody believed that Set For Fame raced below her best and that put a question mark in his mind about the rate of progress the filly had made since being stricken with a virus during her Sydney Autumn campaign.

Moody will keep a watching brief on the three-year-old in the coming days and the assess whether she will go on to the Group 1 Winter Stakes or get turned out to the paddock.

For all that, Set For Fame, under the usual astute ride from Luke Nolen, basically dominated her rivals in the Dane Ripper, running the race to suit herself and getting the desired result.

Acquired and Set For Fame landed in the lead, but neither wanted to set the target. Both riders were happy to go back and settle off the speed as Tobouggie Woogie and Be Positive pushed forward to do the dance at the head of affairs.

Nolen took a comfortable trail as he settled Set For Fame just two lengths off the lead in third place. Moody's second runner Luminous Eyes raced in fourth while jockey Bobby El-Issa positioned Acquired in sixth then fifth place along the rail, racing together with Happy Hippy.

The well fancied Wealth Princess (the $4.20 second favourite) raced in midfield while $3.90 favourite Jerezana raced further back in the second half of field.

Tobouggie Woogie and Be Positive still held sway on straightening, but the Moody pair of Set For Fame (on the inside) and Luminous Eyes (three wide) were now right on the heels of the leaders, perfectly poised to strike.

The response to the challenge by the two Moody runners differed markedly when the pressure was applied. Set For Fame took off, taking the gap between Tobouggie Woogie and Be Positive to forge to the lead inside the final 250m. Luminous Eyes, for her part, fought on briefly early in the straight but, by the time her stable companion hit the lead, she was a spent force and she would have no further influence on the outcome.

Nolen's early move at the top of the straight had handed Set For Fame the advantage, but there were still three very real threats in the form of Acquired, Wealth Princess and Jerezana who were challenging her authority.

Acquired cornered in fifth place just a couple of lengths behind Set For Fame. She then switched out to gain a better run ... lost ground momentarily on Set For Fame as she did so ... but then quickly gathered momentum again and began her chase in earnest. By then she was three and a bit lengths in arrears.

Jerezana had saved ground along the inside in the approach to turn. That left her in eighth position (two wide) as the field straightened with jockey Kerrin McEvoy having to weigh up his options as to where he could weave a path through the traffic congestion in front of him.
Jerezana initially kept a straight line before ducking in closer to inside where she found a clear pathway in which to unleash her challenge.

Wealth Princess had no such traffic problems. Jockey Michael Walker had kept her out of trouble until the turn where she cornered in tenth spot with seven lengths to make up and a clear, straight line to the finish in which to do so. When Walker asked her to accelerate, Wealth Princess let down with meaning and it looked for a moment that she would sweep all before her and a land a second, successive feature race victory.

But Set For Fame was no easy mark. The filly was solid all the way to the line and simply wasn't going to give anything away easily. Her sustained effort was good enough to see off the best of her rivals by a one length margin.

Acquired produced a finish as game and honest as they come. When Wealth Princess stormed past her (going after Set For Fame) at the 200m mark, Acquired refused to lie down. She, in fact, lifted to fight against the presence of Wealth Princess and annoyed her rival all the way to the line where, in a head-bobber, she beat Wealth Princess to claim second place.

Wealth Princess's turn of foot was impressive, but it only lasted from the 350m until the 100m where the run peaked and it became apparent that she could no longer get to Set For Fame. Had Walker's hand been forced by Nolen's early move on Set For Fame and had he sent Wealth Princess on her way too early? That's for conjecture. The facts are that Wealth Princess finished third. a short-half-head behind Acquired.

Jerezana finished fourth. She had a similar story to the other place-getters. She ran on strongly mid-straight ... finished off well enough, but lacked the extra required to make a real fight of it.

The bottom line was that, whether she was at her peak or not, Set For Fame was just too strong for them.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Peter Moody: “She probably needed the run the other day. It might sound silly, but I am still disappointed. I still think she raced below her top, you know. She is a Group 1 mare and she struggled to beat probably Group 3 mares.

"I don’t want to sound silly about it. I think, you know, she is entitled to win that type of race and probably entitled to win it a bit easier on how good I think she is.

“She had a bad virus in Sydney and I am still not convinced she is right over the top of that.
Like I said four weeks ago before that BTC Cup, you know, she’s not far behind Typhoon Tracy. She’s a top class filly, but she’s just not at her top you know. That virus in Sydney just gutted her and I’d love to think she could improve in the next few weeks. If she doesn’t she is out in the paddock.

"We haven’t had a lot of luck with her. She got sick in Sydney and we had to bypass the Coolmore. We had to scratch her on the morning of the Coolmore where she was favourite. You know, I think that was probably a race she probably could have won.

"She was unlucky in the Australian Guineas leading into that. She disappointed in the Queen of the Turf and disappointed us in the BTC Cup, but it is nice to see her bounce back and win a good quality race today. Her work has been good. She has worked super.

"Listen this is a lovely consolation. It is a Group 2 Fillies and Mares. She would have to really please me in the next couple of weeks to go onto the Group 1 (The Winter Stakes) or I will put her out because I still don’t think she is at her top or where she should be. So we will just be biding our time at the moment.

"I don’t think she is at her top and I am not sure where she’s at post that virus in Sydney. So she’d have to please us in the stables the next couple of weeks before we decide what we do next, because I really believe she is top shelf.

"The Winter Stakes is a Group 1 ... that is the race we are here for ... but she’d still want to do well. We won’t be going around for the sake of going around."

“I bought her. I bought her in Melbourne. Robert Crabtree, a client of mine bred her and he actually stayed in her a little bit. Mrs Moody is a part owner, so very nice."

Jockey Luke Nolan: “The latter part of her Autumn campaign in Sydney was curtailed because of a virus so we forgive her that.

"I thought her run in the BTC Cup first-up after a let-up was good, because she was coming back from 2000m about seven weeks between runs and two weeks in the paddock ... so I thought the run was full of merit.

"She sustained a little injury in the race so we patched that all up and you see the fruits of hard work and labour of the camp here today.

“She’s twice a Group winner at 1400. I can see her stretched to the mile, no dramas. She was placed behind a pretty smart horse in Rock Kingdom in the Australian Guineas, but I don’t think you will see her stretch to any further than that.

"We tried it once in a Queen of the Turf I think ... or Stormqueen in Sydney. It wasn’t effective. So I think the seven furlongs, mile is where she is most effective.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Set For Fame): 4.60 out to 5.00 in to 4.80.
Favourite (Jerezana): 3.80 out to 4.20 in to 3.90. Finished fourth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
It was reported by B. Gillovic, the trainer of Wealth Princess, that the mare had a laceration to its tongue. Wealth Princess was examined by the Club's veterinary surgeon and cleared to race, although it will be examined again at the barriers. Wealth Princess underwent a further veterinary examination at the barriers and was cleared to start.

Barinka (J. Byrne) and Flying Tessie (B. Shinn) raced wide throughout.

In the early part of the straight Jerezana (K. McEvoy) was held up for running and then to obtain clear running was shifted in abruptly near the 300m.

The veterinary surgeon reported that Flying Tessie had a deep brush mark on the off hind pastern and to be exhibiting the thumps. Trainer M. Williams will be advised that a veterinary clearance must be produced before the horse races again.

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