MV JULY 24 - MANGONUI OUT OF RETIREMENT AND INTO THE WINNER’S STALL

By Taron Clarke | Monday, July 26, 2010

Moonee Valley, July 24, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - Out 3 metres.
Four Year Old And Up Handicap - 1200m.
Time: 1-13.91. (Carrying 53kg).
1 Mangonui; 2 Signor Socks; 3 Sacred Orders.

Sale trainer Ian Hutchins may well owe best friend Gary Parkinson a beer or two after Mangonui’s win at Moonee Valley on Saturday afternoon.

The rising eight year old, was placed into semi-retirement after the last run of his previous campaign back in November, as the owner of the gelding thought the rating system was not to the horse’s benefit and was of the belief the horse would be better off retired.

But Gary Parkinson had other ideas.

It was his suggestion to get the horse back into work and form a new syndicate of owners to see the horse’s racetrack days through.

The lightly raced son of Kingston Rule has only had twenty seven starts to date and with earnings of just under two hundred thousand dollars, there may be more to come if his Moonee Valley win is any indication.

Ridden by jockey Craig Williams, Mangonui jumped away with the field at barrier rise and Williams had no hesitation in sending the brown gelding into a prominent position to settle in fourth on the fence, within five lengths of the leader Sacred Orders. Trailing Sacred Orders was Signor Socks and champion jockey Glen Boss.

With only a moderate tempo up front, jockey Glen Boss sent his mount forward to eyeball Sacred Orders at the five hundred metre mark and this in turn saw Mangonui drop the bit and flounder in the going for a few strides.

Jockey Craig Williams was forced to urge the seven-year-old gelding along to keep in touch with the two frontrunners as the field swung for home. Rounding the turn Williams had no option but to hunt the son of Kingston Rule along and attempt to save ground towards the fence.

At the furlong, Mangonui was starting to gather his momentum and make ground on the two frontrunners and jockey Williams was able to ease Mangonui across the two leader’s heels and underneath Jeteven who was starting to wilt.

Mangonui and Williams spotted Sacred Orders and Signor Socks two lengths as the field balanced up in the early part of the straight. But it was evident the two frontrunners would take some catching as they were both fighting on courageously under hard riding from their respective jockeys.

Under the brilliant poise and balance of Craig Williams, Mangonui needed the entire Moonee Valley straight and managed to strike the front in the shadows of the winning post to score by a short-head to Signor Socks with a short-half-head back to Sacred Orders in third position.

The victory was much to the delight of on-course punters as Mangonui started favourite in an open betting market at 4.20.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Ian Hutchins: “They retired him, but my best mate, he went and got him out of the paddock. He got a new syndicate of owners together and Euroa I don’t think will ever be the same.

“It’s the first city win for them. Some of them it’s the first horse they’ve been in……they’re just all friends and I don’t know what Euroa is going to be like tonight.

“He’s got no issues. The only thing was his rating, with the rating system there wasn’t the races around for him and he was very hard to place.

"The owner she got very worried about him and said look I’ll retire him and he was up there in the paddock and my best mate Gary Parkinson, he went and grabbed him out of the paddock and said ‘come on we’ll get a syndicate together and race him.’ He’s had two starts back and run second and won here.

“Well he’s a Kingston rule, and they take time and they get better with age so it’s been a really good.”

Jockey Craig Williams: “The Hutchinson/Williams relationship goes back a long time. My father was apprenticed to Mr Hutchinson’s father so it was good.

"It’s not the way to ride the horse the way we did today, but it was the way to win today’s race. He’s good and tough. I asked him to be tough as he was a bit vulnerable in the position he was in. I asked him to do some chasing work and when it came down to it he kept galloping well to the line.

“I drew a good barrier and I felt there was three opposition, two of them were in front of me and the other one was going to be back off me, and it felt like we were in the Pyrenees, we had to attack and keep going and he was good and strong towards the wire.

“I’m very lucky to pick the ride up and Hutchy (jockey Peter Hutchinson) is such a tough bloke, even though he’ll be frustrated which we always are, he’s always got a good smile about him and this is his horse anyway so I was just lucky enough today.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Mangonui): Opened 3.80 out to 4.60 firmed to start 4.20.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Sensational Swing jumped away awkwardly.

Side Splitter raced wide without cover throughout.

Approaching the 200m, Twenty Grand was steadied and shifted in when disappointed for a clear run between Jeteven and Mangonui, which shifted out.

Apprentice J. Noonan (Jeuneyman) was of the view that the gelding would be better suited when stepped up to 1400m.

Apprentice J. Wood (Justsay Sumthink) was fined $200 under the provisions of AR92(12) for failing to claim his entitled allowance down to his minimum riding weight. J. Wood made application to have his minimum riding weight lifted to 52kg.

G. Boss (Signor Socks) was fined $500 for breaching the provisions of AR145 in that he retuned to scale in excess 1/2kg over his declared weight. In assessing penalty, Stewards took into account G. Boss’s good record with weight related matters.

More articles