CAUL JULY 31 - PLENTY OF SPIRIT AS NOONAN FINISHES SEASON ON A HIGH

By Taron Clarke | Monday, August 2, 2010

Caulfield, July 31, 2010.
Track - Dead 5. Rail - out 4.0m.
3YO Fillies Handicap - 1200m.
Time: 1-11.95. (Carrying 56.0kg).
1 Big Spirit; 2 Lucy’s Cash; 3 Sona Gaire.

Jockey Jake Noonan’s rise to fame continued at Caulfield aboard the Rick Hore-Lacy trained Big Spirit.

Noonan, the son of well-known Mornington trainer Tony Noonan, has been making a fist of riding in the metropolitan arena for the past couple of months.

Juggling an apprenticeship with his high school studies, Noonan looks a top line jockey in the making.

Given the job of steering Big Spirit for Caulfield trainer Hore-Lacy, Noonan wasted no time signalling his intentions from barrier rise and sent the Invincible Spirit filly forward from her awkward barrier draw of thirteen.

Bluey’s Mist broke well for jockey Chris Symons to be prominent during the early stages.

Favourite for the race was the Damien Oliver mount Music In The Park, and she jumped well from the rails draw but did not have the natural gate speed to be able to take up a forward position. Oliver elected to settle fourth last on the fence spotting the leader Big Spirit about six lengths in a compact field.

As the field settled into its rhythm, Big Spirit retained the front from Shiago who had followed her across from the deep. Bluey’s Mist was content to ease out of the speed and take up a trialling position behind the leader.

Damien Oliver and the favourite Music In The Park were able to save ground along the fence as the field bunched up to be within four lengths of the leader inside the 600 metre mark. The tempo had only been fair up until this stage.

In amongst the bulk of runners was the Patinack Farm owned Lucy’s Cash for Dean Holland. The grey filly was obliged to race three deep, but did have cover to her immediate outside in that of Cyclone Sarah and even wider on the track was Play The Fool. Tracking the favourite towards the rear of the field was the Colin and Cindy Alderson trained Sona Gaire.

The field of three year old fillies swung for home and the leader who had enjoyed a trouble free run was given some rein by jockey Noonan and the chestnut filly slipped two lengths in front of Play The Fool and Lucy’s Cash.

The favourite Music In The Park was attempting to save ground on the inside and was spotting the leader five lengths start. Sona Gaire for Dwayne Dunn had eased off the favourite’s back and was starting to make ground rounding the home turn.

Big Spirit was clear by two lengths as the field raced beyond the 300 metre mark. Play The Fool who had travelled wide throughout the race was dropping out and the Patinack Farm filly Lucy’s Cash was setting sail out after the leader with Bluey’s Mist back towards the fence battling on stoutly.

Sona Gaire had balanced up well after being brought to the middle of the track for jockey Dunn and was starting to let down with her run.

With only 100 metres to go, Big Spirit was starting to feel her legs and after leading handsomely for the majority of the straight, the chasers, namely Lucy’s Cash and Sona Gaire, were making large inroads to her lead.

Jake Noonan, showing maturity above his years, put the whip away and pushed out Big Spirit hands and heels over the concluding stages to hold on for a well-deserved victory by a half neck from Lucy’s Cash with a head back to Sona Gaire in third position.

The favourite finished off only fairly for fifth position under the urgings of Damien Oliver and was beaten some four lengths. Her racing pattern suggests that she will be better suited over 1600 metres and beyond.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Rick Hore-Lacy: “That’s about her fourteenth run this season, so she’s been a wonderfully consistent little filly.

“We don’t do much between runs……we just take her to the races.

“Last time she was slow out, and she had to be hunted up to be outside the leader and once we did that she over-raced and ran herself into the ground.

“Today she won the start quite clearly and got to the lead. The inside here is very important on days like this and the rest is history.

“You can guess how much I had on her…….nothing!”

Jockey Jake Noonan: “I probably made the wrong decision last time trying to hold her up ... she just wanted to fight me the whole time and I led today and she jumped really well, a half-length in front of them.

“I was going to elect to sit outside the leader, but I knew from that that she would probably over-race, so I just elected to let her stride and get there under her own steam.

“Rick said hold her up as long as you can. Ideally we wanted to get a bit of cover but we weren’t going to and I just wanted to have her where she was happy and going to settle.

“I’ve got to keep the school momentum going and the racing momentum!”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Big Spirit): 4.60 out to 7.00.
Favourite (Music In the Park): 6.00 in to 4.60 out to 4.80. Finished fifth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Halo Dot Com stood flat footed and missed the start by approximately four lengths.

Inside the 900m Shiago (D Smith) shifted in when not fully clear of Cyclone Sarah resulting in tightening to that filly which in turn shifted in tightening the running of Lucy’s Cash and Maccas Miss. D Smith was advised to exercise more care.

Rounding the home turn at approximately the 300m Cyclone Sarah shifted out slightly inconveniencing Better Be The One and then shortly after this Cyclone Sarah had to be steadied to avoid the heels of Showstoppa which shifted out.

D Oliver (Music In The Park) explained that he had to ride the filly a little closer today than he would have liked and was of the opinion the filly would benefit from today’s first up performance.

When questioned regarding the tactics adopted on Sneaky Tsu today, apprentice N Rose stated that his instructions were to be positive early and take up a mid-field position however from his barrier draw he was unable to ride the filly as close as he would have liked due to the amount of speed drawn inside. He added that to avoid covering excess ground he elected to come back to gain some cover.

When queried regarding his lack of urgency out of the barriers he explained that it was evident to him that he would have had to have asked his filly to do too much work to gain a more forward position. N Rose was advised that his explanation has been recorded if required for further reference.

D Gauci (Halo Dot Com) reported that his mount hung out for a major part of the race. Trainer Mr L Farrugia was advised that Halo Dot Com must compete in a trial to the satisfaction of Stewards before being permitted to race again.

D Holland rider of Lucy’s Cash was fined the sum of $300 under the provisions of AR137A(5)(a)(ii) for using his whip in a forehand manner ten times prior to the 100m.

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