EF JUNE 12 - BLACK PIRANHA’S STRADBROKE GLORY

By Graham Potter and Matthew Grimson | Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Eagle Farm, June 12, 2001.
Stradbroke Handicap (Group 1) - 1400m.
Time: 1-21.16. Carrying 55.5kg.
Track - Good 3. Rail - out 3m.
1 Black Piranha; 2 Melito; 3 Mic Mac.

When the mighty Rough Habit, now twenty-three years of age, returned to the parade ring after leading the runners out onto the track at for the 2010 running of the $1-million, Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap on Saturday, few amongst the 23000 racing enthusiasts who were present at Eagle Farm realised that ‘Roughie’ was just two minutes and twenty-one seconds away from losing one of his most endearing titles.

For the last eighteen years the mantle of ‘the last horse to win back-to-back Stradbrokes had belonged to Rough Habit after his wins in 1991 and 1992. That description was removed from his resume on Saturday when the Con Karakatsanis trained Black Piranha added the 2010 Stradbroke to his 2009 success to replace a legend and become ‘the last horse to win back-to-back Stradbrokes.”

In an interview earlier in the week, John Wheeler, the trainer of Rough Habit had fondly described Rough Habit’s spectacular, second Stradbroke win in which he came from behind, scything his way through traffic at break-neck speed to cut down his opponents and land a famous victory.

John Wheeler: “It was amazing hey. Jimmy (Cassidy) didn’t even take any kudos for the ride … and Jimmy doesn’t often give any kudos to anyone else. He said, he (Rough Habit) took me.

“I said to Jimmy, you’ve drawn the outside of the field and there is going to be a lot of pace on, so don’t worry if you get back a bit. Just come wide and give him a free run in the straight. If he can run the last 600 in 32 then he can win. When Jimmy tried to pull him out wide Roughie said, no, that’s too far. I’m going to go through the middle … and that’s just what he did. It was amazing.”

The same scenario did not apply in its entirety in the case of Black Piranha. The six-year-old did need the help of jockey Nash Rawiller to get balanced again after being dragged hopelessly wide on the turn and he did ultimately have free galloping room in which to charge down the outside of the track, but there was one big common denominator that he shared with the legacy of Rough Habit on the day. His will to win was extraordinary and he finished with the same flourish that would have done Rough Habit proud as he likewise prevailed in a driving finish to land a famous victory of his own.

Black Piranha jumped superbly, landing in the leading line before going back as Beaded and Mic Mac chased hard from their outside draws to cross at the head of the pack. They in turn soon gave way to King Mufhasa, who pulled his way into the lead after showing good speed from the extreme outside gate.

Catapulted and Latin News were close up behind that as a hectic charge ensured a strong pace. Melito was also nicely in touch racing in-between runners just behind the leading group. In spite of the good gallop, the quality of the field ensured that the field was still relatively well bunched in the sweep to the turn, although Black Piranha was now racing towards the rear of the field, on the outside of the $3.50 favourite Whobegotyou. Ortensia was further back than that while Albert The Fat was in last place at that stage, hugging the rail some eight to nine lengths off the leader.

There was no let-up in the test of strength approaching the turn, but the leaders stayed tough. King Mufhasa led on the rail on straightening. Beaded raced one back, just to the outside of King Mufhasa while Latin News moved into third ahead of Mic Mac who was racing along the inside. Catapulted was also in prime position to strike. Melito was up to fifth place, five wide … right in the mix.

Back behind that the field fanned out as riders of the chasers went in search of clear running. That movement of runners meant that the likes of Whobegotyou, Black Piranha and Ortensia, who all cornered very wide, lost ground on the leading group who were taking the inside line and speeding away at the head of affairs … and when Whobegotyou carried Black Piranha and Ortensia even further out at the top of the straight (Black Piranha was all of twelve wide and ten lengths back), the connections of the 2009 Stradbroke winner would have been forgiven if they thought their chance for more Stradbroke glory had been lost in that moment.

King Mufhasa kicked on in the first half of the straight and Beaded matched his every move to keep the pressure on the leader at boiling point. Mic Mac rallied along the rail to stay in contention and Melito started to make up ground down the centre of the course, but the temperature was too hot to handle for Latin News and Catapulted. Both were asked for their efforts at the top of the straight. Neither could deliver and they both dropped by the wayside halfway up the straight.

Beaded got to King Mufhasa just inside the 200m mark. These two runners were still in full cry as Mic Mac switched out around their heels and moved forward to join the fight for the honours. Melitio too was running on strongly and charging into contention, but nobody was finishing as well as Black Piranha who was storming down the outside of the track.

Black Piranha’s problem was the amount of ground he had to make up. After Whobegotyou had forced him wide on the turn Black Piranha lost more time when having to balance up and re-focus on the task at hand.

Ironically enough, the horse that had almost ended Black Piranha’s hopes helped revive his chances. Whobegotyou, who likewise had to settle again, sprinted for close on 200m (from the 400m mark until 220m from home). That gave Black Piranha something to chase and that helped Black Piranha get back into the race.

By the 200 mark Whobegotyou was a spent force. (Whobegotyou pulled up with a leg injury - see Stewards Report Extract). As the favourite weakened Black Piranha got stronger. He left the main fancy for dead and continued to build momentum, but the fact that Beaded, Mic Mac and Melito were not stopping up front meant that Black Piranha still faced an enormous task.

With 200m left to run, Black Piranha was still seven to eight lengths off Beaded who was trying to persuade the ever-game King Mufhasa not to fight back. Mic Mac was a length behind that and there was a similar distance back to Meilto. Both were closing on the leading pair.

With 100m left to run Beaded was flat out. King Mufhasa was still there, but now starting to feel the pinch. Mic Mac and Melitio continued to reel in Beaded. Black Piranha still four lengths back … and flying.

The last 75m of action produced an absolute thriller of a finish as the four main contenders came together. Beaded fought courageously to try to hold onto his hard-earned advantage, but Melito and Mic Mac ranged up alongside him. When Black Piranha arrived to join the leading trio there were suddenly four horses racing fairly tightly together locked in a head-bobbing duel with nobody giving an inch over an enthralling final ten metres as they went to the line together.

The momentum was with Black Piranha and who officially got home by a short-half head from Melito. Mic Mac was a long-head back in third place with Beaded equally close-up behind that.

Albert The Fat (who finished fifth), Culminate (sixth) and King Mufhasa (seventh) all also finished less than two lengths behind the winner.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Con Karakatsanis: “His last six months he has been the most unluckiest horse. Nothing’s gone right for him at all and his 10,000 run was just exceptional knowing that I had him a little underdone and a little bit too fresh.

“I had him spot-on. I had him perfect. I knew the 10,000 run he was one run short. That run did him a lot of good. Like I said, the last six months nothing has gone right for him, but his last two runs have been very encouraging so I’m just rapt to go back to back. Not many horses can do that. This horse is a freak.

“I always wanted to defend the title and to make the double come true is just something different. To go back to back it is a big thrill. To win my first Group 1 (in last year’s Stradbroke) and then to back up and go back to back … it is just the best. Until you are there yourself you don’t really know how good it is.

“I didn’t give too many instructions to Nash (Rawiller). I kind of just left it to him. He knows the horse gets back and can run on. Coming to the corner, when he got pushed right out … twenty deep on the corner, I thought geez this is going to be tough. He got shunted out bad on the corner by ‘Whobe’. Just shows how good this horse is. An absolute freak. He is absolutely flying. I’ll try and go three-in-a-row next year.

“He will probably go for a little break now. Apart from that we will just have to sit down and go back to the drawing board and see when we take him.

“He’s everything to me this horse. He keeps knocking the knockers. Everyone kinda forgot about him and he just showed how good he is.”

Jockey Nash Rawiller: “I wasn’t in a hurry on him. He actually hit the ground in front … he jumped so well … but I just tried to ride a patient race. I was just frustrated by the fact that he got pushed pretty wide by Whobegotyou on the turn. He got pushed off balance a couple of times by Whobegotyou just turning for home. It took a long time for me to balance up, but I just sensed he was going to chime in at the right time.

“He sort of balanced up again and started to pick up underneath me. I just sort of counted to five before I went and then the horse just did the rest. I thought, sort of 250 out, we were going to get there and if we didn’t we were going to be horribly unlucky, you know. When I say horribly unlucky … if I got beaten by a head I would have been so disappointed because he deserved to win. He was very good.

“He is just a great old campaigner, you know. He keeps putting the writing on the wall. I was so happy to see him bounce back to form last start (when showing some of his old bite to finish fourth 1.70 lengths behind Hot Danish in the Doomben 10000). You know, when he did that I knew he would be right in this. He doesn’t know how to run a bad race.

“This was my first ride on him. I was booked for him quite some time ago. He was a horse in the race that would have enough weight for me. It just worked out well for me.”

“What an exceptional old horse you know. What a tremendous effort from Con (Karakatsanis). You know he is such a young trainer and he has been able to not get him to win a Stradbroke, but to win two of them. Sure he is a great old horse, but he (Karakatsanis) has been able to get him right both days on a big day of the year.

“He was a good horseman when I was riding with him. I remember when I was riding with him he had exceptional ability in the saddle and he has carried that on to his training career.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Black Piranha): 18.00 out to 21.00.
Favourite (Whobegotyou): 3.60 in to 3.50. Finished eleventh.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Mic Mac was examined by the barriers after being fractious when entering the track. The horse was cleared to race.

In the early part of the straight, Mic Mac (S. Scriven) had trouble obtaining a run and to eventually get clear it had to shift out.

Ghetto Blaster (C. Lindop) left the gates awkwardly. Whobegotyou (M. Rodd) was slow to begin. On jumping, Culminate (S. Seamer) shifted ground and bumped Latin News (C. Newitt). As a consequence of this, some inconvenience was caused to Phelan Ready (S. Katsidis).

At the start, Albert The Fat (D. Browne) and Red Lord (D. Nikolic) were crowded for room between Ortensia (C. Williams) and Mic Mac (S. Scriven) when both horses shifted ground. Just after this, Red Lord was steadied and taken across behind the field to a position towards the rear but closer to the rail.

Just after the start, Mr Baritone (J. Ford) and Phelan Ready bumped on several occasions due mainly to Latin News (C. Newitt) shifting out slightly.

About the 1200m, Shellscrape (T. Bell) was momentarily steadied to avoid the heels of Beaded (K. McEvoy), which shifted across with Mic Mac (S. Scriven).

In the early and middle stages, Ghetto Blaster pulled hard and raced ungenerously and shifted a lot of ground. As a consequence, inconvenience was caused to Red Lord (D. Nikolic) and Mr Baritone (J. Ford). No action was taken.

Russeting (J. Maskell) raced extremely wide. Albert The Fat had difficulty obtaining clear running in the straight until a point near the 200m. Catapulted (L. Nolen), Shellscrape (T. Bell), Phelan Ready and Black Piranha raced wide throughout.

Jockey C. Williams explained that before the race his mount was nicely relaxed and went to the gates well. He said that he travelled close to Black Piranha throughout and considered Ortensia was ready to close off strongly, but today after straightening when it was under pressure, Ortensia did not respond as he expected she would and was very disappointing over the concluding stages.

He did go on to say Ortensia felt normal to him on pulling up on return to scale. A post race veterinary examination of Ortensia revealed the mare to be slightly lame in the near-foreleg and had sustained a laceration to the off-fore fetlock.

M. Rodd, rider of Whobegotyou, stated that he did race in a somewhat crowded room in the early stages, however, in his opinion, this should not have affected the horse's performance. He added that Whobegotyou did not stretch out as anticipated and was very disappointing.

M. Kavanagh, trainer of Whobegotyou, said the horse had a long spell after jarring up somewhat last spring, and he said again today the gelding did not appear to stretch out as he expected.

A post race veterinary examination of Whobegotyou revealed the horse to have been stripped on the off-hind leg and was sore in the near-fore leg. Trainer M. Kavanagh was advised that he would be required to provide a veterinary clearance for Whobegotyou prior to its next race start.

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