DOOM AUG 14 - JOINT CHIEFS BACK IN CHARGE

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Doomben, August 14, 2010.
Track - Dead 4. Rail - out 2m. Penetrometer - 5.3.
Class 6 Handicap (E&G) - 1200m.
Time: 1-10.61. (Carrying 57kg).
1 Joint Chiefs; 2 Our Mr Cashman; 3 Blue Jupiter.

The Brian Wakefield trained Joint Chiefs, resplendent in his trade-mark black ear-muffs, made light work of carrying the top weight of 57kg to victory in a Class 6 Handicap at Doomben on Saturday.

The powerfully built son of General Nediym cuts an intimidating figure when in full cry and clearly, when he is comfortable in the running, he does take some stopping.

Joint Chiefs has taken a while to earn his reward this prep. This was his sixth start this time in, but when the win came it came with absolute authority to take his overall race record to a creditable six wins (with three runner-up finishes) from only sixteen starts.

Joint Chiefs landed in the lead, but jockey Michael Cahill allowed him to go back to settle in fourth place on the rail as Instant Success chased went out to set the pace ahead of Three Swallows and Our Mr Cashman.

Cahill looked to get Joint Chiefs away from the rail approaching the turn. On straightening though the five-year-old’s challenge was put at risk as Three Swallows and Our Mr Cashman went up to join Instant Success at the head of affairs, leaving Joint Chiefs half-trapped behind the heels of the leading trio who were spread across the track.

With His Boy Elroy holding his line to the outside of Joint Chiefs and Blue Jupiter busy searching desperately for a run to the inside of the Wakefield trained runner, Joint Chiefs was momentarily caught in the type of traffic congestion which threatened to make him late for his appointment at the business end of affairs … but with the experience and the patience of Cahill in play in the saddle, Joint Chief’s challenge was far from over.

As Our Mr Cashman drove forward into an outright lead directly in front of Joint Chiefs and His Boy Elroy started to falter to the outside of Joint Chiefs, the top weight was suddenly in clear galloping room.

It took a few strides for him to start to go through his gears, but once he built momentum, the charge of Joint Chiefs was too much for Our Mr Cashman to contain.

Joint Chiefs swept to the front at the 100m mark with ears-muffs pointing the way. Such was his dominance over the concluding stages that Cahill merely pushed the long-striding gelding out hands and heels to the line to score by a two length comfortable margin.

WINNER FEEDBACK:
Trainer Brian Wakefield: “Michael Cahill just clicks with the horse.

“The other day (when unplaced, 3.50 lengths behind Anyways over 1350m at Doomben) we just had no luck. No fault of Michael. He is not the easiest horse to ride.

“He did show a bit of promise early in Sydney, but then turned into a bit of an animal on the track. He was a difficult horse to deal with when he first came up here. It wasn’t looking good for a while, but he turned the corner and he is a lovely horse to deal with now.

“He is a strong horse and he is a horse that doesn’t take a lot of galloping. Whatever you want him to do, he wants to do two hundred percent more. He does a lot of long pace-work … swimming … beach-work … things like that, just to keep him well and it seems to be getting results.”

It was back on September 26 last year when Wakefield first explained the use of ear-muffs on Joint Chiefs. The win on that day was Joint Chief’s third win in what turned out to be a four race unbeaten preparation during a winning hot-spot from August to September. Could it be that the cycle is about to repeat itself?

That conversation with HRO on September 26 is worth repeating here.

Wakefield: “We were trying to work out the horse. It was probably due to my wife Natalie that we got the ear-muffs. He is a big, strong horse and he had a bit of a history in Sydney of tearing away with the track-work riders. We noticed that he was very hypersensitive to noise and a couple of other things.

“We saw these ear-muffs and we tried them out. These have actually come over from Japan these ones. A lot of horses use them in Japan. I suppose they get the big crowds over there and it just sort of absorbs a little bit of noise for some horses that are a bit hypersensitive.

“A lot of people are sensitive to certain things, so it’s obvious that horses could be the same way as well. The ear muffs seem to agree with him. Brett Ryan has been riding him in track-work and done a lot of remedial work with him. He’s done a great job with him.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:
Winner (Joint Chiefs):6.00 out to 6.50 in to 5.50.
Favourite (Elusive Port): 4.80 out to 5.00 in to 4.80. Finished fifth.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:
Buttido (C. Gilby) knuckled on jumping away and a short distance later was bumped by Elusive Port (B. Pengelly) which shifted out.

Punch Up (J. Holder) raced four deep without cover. Our Mr Cashman (S. Seamer) raced three deep without cover.

His Boy Elroy (B. El-Issa), Firedrake (M. Walker) and Blackwoods Choice (C. Munce) raced wide throughout.

Firedrake raced ungenerously for a short distance rounding the first turn.

Near the 400m Dr Barnard (J. Byrne) shifted out and bumped Elusive Port (B. Pengelly) on two occasions.

Near the 200m Dr Barnard, which had been held up for clear running, attempted a run to the outside of the heels of Three Swallows (J. Wood). At the same stage Blue Jupiter (P. Hammersley) shifted in to take advantage of that run and as a result Dr Barnard had to be checked to avoid the heels of Blue Jupiter.

Approaching the 100m His Boy Elroy was momentarily crowded for room between Punch Up and Joint Chiefs (M. Cahill) which shifted out.

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