FLEM AUG 07 - MOUDRE MOWS THEM DOWN

By Taron Clarke | Monday, August 9, 2010

Flemington, August 7, 2010.
Track - Slow 7. Rail - out 9.0m.
Open Handicap - 1400m.
Time: 1-27.77. (Carrying 53.0kg).
1 Moudre; 2 Riceman; 3 Jennings.

Each and every year during the Spring Carnival there are stories of homebred gallopers who come from obscurity to steal the limelight on racings greatest stage. This year appears no different after witnessing a stellar performance from the Ciaron Maher trained Moudre. The unfashionably bred five year old gelding is by Blevic out of Raami mare Tolkaami, who produced grand old galloper Knock Knock.

Last year it was the Strathalbyn galloper Alcopop, who came from winning a Class three event at Morphettville in his first-up run to starting as one of the favourites in the world’s greatest staying handicap, the Melbourne Cup.

So when a horse like Moudre produces a performance like he did at Flemington on Saturday the racing media and the public are all over it. Could it be the start of a fairy-tale campaign for the owners of Moudre and trainer Ciaron Maher?

Maher himself has already been in the spring limelight previously, training Tears I Cry to win the Emirates Stakes during the 2008 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Moudre resumed from a twelve week spell at Flemington and was partnered by jockey Craig Williams. From barrier rise the gelding was well away from his barrier of five and Williams elected to let Moudre settle sixth on the fence, six lengths off the two pacemakers Jungle Ruler and Sacred Orders who vied for on top supremacy. The pace of the race was solid for the first two furlongs.

Inside the thousand metres, Jungle Ruler who had the inside running slowed the speed and Sacred Orders was obliged to race outside his girth. Williams and Moudre continued to get a wonderful run throughout the race and was within striking range of the leading pair.

One of the other runners in the market was the Brian Cox trained Berringama for jockey Glen Boss. Boss was able to have the son of Tobougg quickly into stride and settle third, in the one out one back position trialling the speed.

As the field raced down the side of the track and approaching the six hundred metre marker the speed slackened and this in turn saw the commencement of the tree wide line of runners make their move towards the front.

Three and four wide was the ten year old veteran Riceman. With Stephen Baster aboard, Riceman was asked to improve his position from midfield to up and tackling the leaders on the swing for home.

With all the movement from the wider runners this saw favourite Moudre go from travelling sixth on the fence, to travelling tenth on the fence with a wall of runners in front of him and limited galloping room. But with limited room to his outside, Craig Williams was able to extricate Moudre from his position on the fence, across five pairs of heals and to the outside of runners as soon as the field had balanced up for the run to the judge.

As the field reached the four hundred, there was a quartet of runners up front comprising of early leaders Jungle Ruler and Sacred Orders, Riceman who had chimed in wide on the track and peeling off his back was Mangonui. Moudre balanced up in eighth position and only four lengths of the leaders.

Inside the final three hundred metres the early leaders had capitulated and this left Riceman and Baster a sitting shot for something from out of the pack … and out of that pack came Moudre.

In a matter of strides when Williams got fair dinkum, Moudre put paid to Riceman’s gallant effort and raced away. Over the concluding stages it was evident that Moudre had several more gears up his sleeve as Williams eased the son of Blevic down to win by two lengths from the valiant Riceman with a similar margin back to Jennings who got home from well back to claim third placing.

Such was the ease of the win jockey Craig Williams could be seen shaking his head as he eased Moudre down over the final fifty metres. It appears it can only be onwards and upwards for Moudre as he prepares to qualify for the major spring carnival events.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Ciaron Maher: “It’s always a bit of a concern putting them out when they’re on the top of their game, but we did it to go into the spring, and he has come back well.

“Well with all the hype you guy’s (racing press) have put on him I was hoping he was going to do it that easy.

“We’ve got a bit of a plan there. Obviously he’s entered for the better races, but we will just take it one week at a time. If he keeps stepping up like he has we’ll obviously put him in better company and see what happens.

“He seems to like Flemington so we’ll try and bring him back here as much as we can.

“He’s the type of horse that looks like he will stay the two miles. We’ll just have to wait and see. He hasn’t been beyond 1800 metres yet. While he looks like it, he still has to do it.

“They’re all much the same, you’ve got to put the same amount of time into them just this one’s got a little bit bigger motor.”

Part Owner Col McKenna: “It’s very exciting. He’s a very exciting horse. We bred this horse, my partner bred him and I bred him and we just absolutely love him. He’s home bred and we know he is good, but we didn’t know he was as good as he was today.

“He’s in them all (cups). He might have to drop off on the way, but we’ll be hanging in there.”

Jockey Craig Williams: “When you look at his tapes of that win here at Flemington at his last start, it was just so impressive.

“You thought he had plenty of scope and you would like him to do it again, but it was just such a sensational win. Maybe you think that was just one out of the box, but I got a good feel of him in the trial … so I had a bit of an understanding of him and then you saw him today in a seven furling race take a position … slow tempo … they quickened and he was able to go from on the fence to four out in twenty yards because he had that acceleration.

“He’s a very exciting horse and in the right hands. He’s a Group One trainer already and he is great with staying horses.

“We saw it again last year with Alcopop. Maybe this horse may have a similar story.

The owner raised this horse himself and as you can see he is very big and backward and if you see him sitting in the stalls before the races you might think because Ciaron Maher’s name is beside it, he might be a jumper … but Ciaron’s done a great job with the horse, he knows the horse really well and Ciaron’s going to take this horse places.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Moudre): 3.20 out to 3.40 into 3.30.
The winner was the favourite.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
The Miniver Rose (IRE) missed the start (two lengths).

N Hall (Oroya Gold) was issued with a severe reprimand for permitting his mount to shift in near the 900m when not fully clear of Riceman which was checked. In arriving at this decision the Stewards took into account the racing manners of Riceman being a contributing factor in the incident.

D Oliver (The Miniver Rose (IRE)) was of the view that the mare would perform better on drier tracks and would benefit from today’s performance.

D Yendall (Sacred Orders) explained that the gelding pulled hard when racing outside the leader and in his opinion was better suited when able to dictate terms in front on tighter tracks.

S Baster reported at scale that Riceman over-raced in the early and middle stages.

G Boss stated that Berringama over-raced and did not handle the track conditions today. A subsequent veterinary examination of Berringama revealed no abnormalities.

A post-race veterinary examination of Arch Symbol revealed no abnormalities.

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