THE PUNISHER TAKES NO PRISONERS IN A HECTIC, PRESSURE-FILLED, CAVALRY CHARGE TO THE LINE

By Graham Potter | Thursday, February 29, 2024

Just one day after the Team Sears / Jones trainer, rider combination struck at Doomben with Goldeel, the pair were at it again at Ipswich on February 29, where The Punisher took out a BM65 Handicap over 1200m.

It was a fair result in terms of it being a reward for consistency as The Punisher had finished second, and less than a length behind the winner, in each of his last two starts ... yet the presence of the Tony Gollan trained Quade in the race as the outright $2.20 favourite meant that, for all of his positive lead-up form going into this race, The Punisher was still easy to back at $8, possibly also because punters might have been put off by the fact that he would jump from the extreme outside barrier draw (ten out of ten).

Jones got The Punisher away in the leading line to give herself options, but when the speed immediately went on to her inside, she elected to take The Punisher back before slotting in, two wide, all of eight lengths off the lead as Sunny Daze ($19) took the field along at a fair gallop.

Well back, maybe, but Jones was also keeping an eye on the favourite Quade, who raced just in front of her to her inside in the sweep to the home turn, with riders on both horses now starting to ride with more urgency.

As Jones took The Punisher five wide on straightening, Quade, who was staying more to the inside, stole a couple of lengths on The Punisher, but both still had plenty of work to do.

By the 200m mark, the race had turned into a cavalry charge to the line with four horses across the track ... with Quade and The Punisher out wide, still behind the leading line but about to join in the battle.

With 50m left to run, with five horses spread across the track, Quade was now right in the middle of the action ... but still The Punisher was not one of those horses.

The son of Sidestep was still a length back at that stage, but such was the momentum that he had built up, he was able to finish right over the top of all of those duelling runners to his inside to snare a last gasp, last stride victory in scintillation fashion.

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