SCST JULY 03 - WOORIM ON A HIGH

By Graham Poter | Monday, July 5, 2010

Sunshine Coast, Saturday July 3, 2010.
Glasshouse Handicap (Listed - Quality) - 1400m.
Time: 1-25.45 (Carrying 53kg).
Track - Dead 5. Rail - True.
1 Woorim; 2 Adnocon; 3 King Mufhasa.

The Robert Heathcote trained Woorim has upped the ante since resuming from a four month spell at the start of June and so far none of the opposition he has encountered in his three starts this preparation has been able to slow the progress of the son of Show Of Heart whose form has taken him from a Class 3 winner over 1100m first-up to a Listed race winner of the Glasshouse Handicap over 1400m at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

It is not only Woorim's recent run of success that is encouraging, but it is also the authoritative manner in which Woorim has dispatched his rivals this time in which has really caught attention.

That touch of arrogance comes through courtesy of his inherent ability. If there is a character flaw in Woorim's racing makeup it is, to use the words of his jockey Stathi Katsidis, that "he is not real brave."

That short-coming was tested halfway up the home straight at Coloundra when the gap Katsidis was eyeing began to close and Woorim shortened his stride, being reluctant to bully his way through.

When another gap opened, Woorim needed no second asking though, and he accelerated on cue to forge his way into the lead before powering away to complete another emphatic victory as his talent easily outweighed his shortcomings.

Heathcote was quick to pay tribute to his stablehand Robert O'Leary whose work on Woorim's feet has, in no uncertain terms, helped keep the gelding in fighting trim.

Woorim's feet, which bruise easily, remain an on-going problem which has to be managed on a daily basis, but the better the feet have become, the more confident Woorim is going about his business.

The good work of the stable in this regard is underlined by the four-year-old's run of results this time in.

Jockey Stathi Katsidis eased Woorim out of the barriers and took his time in crossing to the rail to settle in third last and then second last some seven lengths behind Mr Slick who took the field along at a less than average tempo in the early part.

Allowed to get away with easy sectionals, Mr Slick had things all his own way until the turn where he cornered just in front of a trio of runners.

Mr Unforgettable and King Mufhasa were on the outside of the leader while Hangover Henry had stuck to the inside line and he was still right in contention.

At that stage Adnocon was best placed of the balance of the line-up. He raced a couple of lengths off the speed, perfectly poised to strike.

Woorim was still that seven lengths in arrears. He straightened in second last place, with his head in-between runners, and some traffic problems brewing ahead of him.

After the easy early speed all of the frontrunners still had a kick at the top of the straight.

Mr Slick continued to hold a narrow advantage until the 200m when he was joined by Hangover Henry, Mr Unforgettable and King Mufhasa in a line of runners across the track.

Of these King Mufhasa was going the best and jockey Sam Spratt urged the top weight into lead with 180m left to run as Mr Slick, Hangover Henry and Mr Unforgettable failed to find anything extra, but the gelding who was fighting against the steadying burden of 60kg, was now sharply in the sights of the Adnocon and Woorim, who were both running on well.

The Eye Liner winner Adnocon had been close to the action the whole length of the straight. He chased in a straight line and he kept snapping at the heels of King Mufhasa. In doing so, he applied constant pressure on the Stephen McKee trained runner and he oh so gradually started to reel in the leader.

For Woorim the scenario was quite different.

The Heathcote runner firstly had to take a split between How Much My Love and Blazing Hearts early in the straight. That gave him a clear passage which he used to good advantage, making up ground well, until he approached the 200m mark where his run had him lined up for a narrow split between King Mufhasa and Adnocon.

When that gap began to close, Woorim marked time briefly before Katsidis took evasive action switching Woorim sharply to the inside to instead aim at the split between King Mufhasa and a tiring Mtr Unforgettable.

Afterwards Katsidis would praise his mount saying, "when they gave him more room he picked up and went again ... good horses do that."

That statement is perfectly true, but what modesty prevented Katsidis from mentioning was the quality of the ride that brought about a race winning performance.

Katsidis did not have a lot of time to make up his mind when 'Option A' was taken away from him when the first gap looked like closing, but he still didn't rush his decision.

He waited just long be certain that the next gap he elected to take would be wide enough for Woorim to take without any misgivings.

Once happy with that, he pulled Woorim aggressively to the inside, angled through the gap between King Mufhasa and Mr Unforgettable, balanced his mount up beautifully again with the minimum of loss of momentum and drove Woorim forward to stretch away to seal a fine victory.

Adnocon (second) and King Mufhasa (third) filled the minor placings finishing a length and one-and-three-quarter lengths behind the winner respectively.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Robert Heathcote: "I'm always happy, mate. Particularly winning nice races like that. It's always a thrill.

"You know, what do I say? I mean 300 out I just said Stathi ... just get through ... just get through and you win the race. He changed direction a couple of times.

"No, I'm just delighted. It's great for the owners, Ross and Judy Cutts. They raced Show A Heart (the sire of Woorim). They bred this guy.

I've done my $50 to Ross. He kept telling me this is a better horse than his brother (the year older, six-time winner My Limit). He proved it today. He stepped up and he's handled it really well.

"He was dynamic winning first-up over 1100m. Then he put away a reasonably good horse in Hus Der Lieften by 2.75 lengths over 1400 and ran time ... and Damian (Browne) was probably a little bit kind to him over the last 50.

When somebody told me he'd run a similar time to Gerald Ryan's good filly Melito, then we realised ... well, hey ... let's have a crack at this race and he's done it. Today, he has given them all a start and was simply too good for them. We're delighted.

"He has been a different horse ... full stop, both in a race and at track-work. I say that, but some mornings he walks out like a cripple.

Oh mate, we are not out of the woods with his foot problems. Robert O'Leary, one of my leading hands, he looks after this horse. He is the one who has worked on this horses feet and got him right.

"Where to now? Anything up to a mile is on the cards, but I'll be honest with you, I've haven't even really considered the next step yet. So, we'll have a few champagnes and worry about that one later."

Jockey Stathi Katsidis: "The early part of the race ... he just relaxed nice. I was in a good spot.

"I thought they went a bit slow early in the run. I didn't know if I would be able to come from behind. Then he picked up and sprinted quickly from the 500.

I just had to find gaps. I nice big gap appeared and then sort of closed ... or half closed. He is not real brave, so I had to change position on him.

"Yeah, it was a bit of moment when we went for the first gap. As soon as he saw them coming over to close the gap, he shortened stride and went from just about winning to going to run last, depending on what happened next.

"When they gave him more room he picked up and went again ... good horses do that.

"The horse had to pick up again and not many of them do in those circumstances, you know when they are all already quickening around you.

After that he was sort of only half thinking about it the last part. He got to the front and thought, ok I'm here now, so I just had to keep him going the last couple of meters.

"He is a different horse to what I rode last time. He is exceptional at the moment."

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Woorim): 5.00 steady (Equal favourite).
Equal favourite (Adnocon): 4.80 out to 5.00. Finished second.
Equal favourite (Veewap): 4.80 out to 5.00. Finished seventh.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
How Much My Love (M. Cahill) was slow to begin and lost considerable ground. Maxisun (D. Nikolic) was slow to begin.

After passing the 1200m Maxisun commenced to over-race and had to be checked to avoid the heels of Veewap (D. Oliver). Maxisun then shifted out resulting in Primeval Demand (J. Holder) being hampered and taken wider on the track.

Approaching the 1100m Blazing Hearts (C. Munce), which was over-racing, had to be steadied to avoid the heels of Barinka (J. Taylor) which shifted in slightly.

Veewap over-raced in the early and middle stages. Veewap and Maxisun raced wide throughout.

D. Nikolic, the rider of Maxisun, which performed below expectations, explained that Maxisun pulled hard in the early stages and was not suited by the slow tempo of the race when settling back in the field. D. Nikolic added that in his opinion Maxisun was still disappointing when placed under pressure in the home straight.

Stewards sought an explanation from C. Munce regarding the performance of Blazing Hearts. C. Munce explained that the gelding over-raced in the early stages, however failed to respond to his riding rounding the home turn and in his opinion has come to the end of its current preparation.

A post-race veterinary examination of Primeval Demand revealed no abnormalities.

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