RAND JULY 24 - OFFHANDED SCORES LAST GASP VICTORY

By Garry Legg | Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Randwick, July 24, 2010.
Track - Heavy. Rail - True.
Benchmark 93 Handicap (3yo and up) - 1400m.
Margins: Hd, 0.50. Time: 1:26.07. (Carrying 54kg).
1 Offhanded ($3.30); 2 Sheedy ($4.40); 3 Kudeta ($11.00).

Another stirring finish and punters who backed winner Offhanded can thank jockey Tye Angland for getting it home in the last bound.

Offhanded staged a tooth-and-nail struggle with Sheedy from the 300m and the Darley trained three-year-old clearly headed Sheedy, who refused to give in under hard riding from apprentice Taylor Lovelock -Wiggins.

Sheedy regained the lead inside the last 100m, but Angland, after using the whip on the Lonhro gelding for 300m, put the persuader away for the last couple of strides and, with impeccable timing, he pushed Offhanded’s head down in the last bound to gain the upper hand by a narrow margin.

From the 1400m start Sheedy and Offhanded held the one-two position from the outset.
Sheedy bowled along in front with the Peter Snowden trained gelding tracking him throughout. Lovelock-Wiggins hugged the rails while Angland was content to scout a bit wider and search for better going.

Lovelock-Wiggins gained a break just before the turn when he released the brakes on the Peter Moody trained four-year-old. While wide apar, Sheedy and Offhanded levelled up at about the 300m before their exciting battle to the finish.

Not many runners made ground from the back of the field except for Kudata, who rattled home late without threatening the first two placegetters.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer: Peter Snowden: ‘’Really good effort … second-up up chasing the hot speed. The kid (Lovelock-Wiggins) rode the second horse really well. He made him really work.

“He (Offhanded) did a really good job, He’s a very tough horse … a very determined horse and hopefully there is some nice racing for him along the line.

“Yeh, he’ll improve a lot. He’ll have a good blow again from today. These (heavy) tracks, even though he gets through it, they still take plenty out of you.

“When you run them like that … when you really get off the bit a long way out and chase … it takes a horse with a bit of guts to find the line like he did.

Jockey Tye Angland: “Taylor (Lovelock-Wiggins) rode his horse nice. I sort of wanted to stay off the worse part of the going. There’s a few wet patches along there and I sort of got out.

“His horse kicked better than I thought it would have and made me chase, but we got in front at the right time.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Offhanded): 2.30 out to 3.30.
Favourite (Triple Elegance) 3.60 out to 4.20 in to 3.10. Finished fifth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Lockmar shifted in at the start and bumped All Legal.

At the 600m All Legal and Carnegie House bumped.

A post race veterinary examination of All Legal, which raced disappointingly, did not reveal any abnormalities. Trainer Mr K Moses indicated All Legal will be spelled.

App. T Bell, rider of Kudeta was fined $200 under AR137A(5)(a)(i) for using the whip in consecutive strides in a forehand manner prior to the 100m.