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Saturday Post Mortem with Chris Scholtz

by Chris Scholtz , 5 years ago

3 minute read

Chris Scholtz reveiws racing around Australia on September 15.

THE STARS

WINX: Won’t waste words as it’s all been said before.…just enjoy the replay and savour the comments from Chris Waller and Hugh Bowman!!!

CHRIS WALLER (Winx): “To have 27 races you have to have quite intense work 27 times. You've got to bring a horse to the races 27 times. You've got to go home safely 27 times, that's quite remarkable.

"It's only her exceptional skill that allows it to happen, because it's impossible what she's doing. It's just heroic.

“She keeps going to a new level every time. She is a superstar.”

HUGH BOWMAN (Winx): She just knows what she is doing now. I used to control her through the gears, through the race, to help her know when and where to give her full energy but she knows now.

“I suppose I have got to learn with her and understand. I didn't feel like she was going to be as dominant as she usually is but when that turbo kicked into gear at the 250 metres it was all over."

KRIS LEES: What an impact he is having on racing with a team that competes with distinction at all levels from country maidens to Group One company. He’s a credit to the industry and should be excited about his spring prospects, especially with the impressive fillies Miss Fabulass and Smart Melody.

GRUNT/DAMIEN OLIVER/MICK PRICE: Australian Guineas winner Grunt joins an elite list of horses to win two Group One races over the mile at Flemington, helped by a perfect Damien Oliver ride that gave him his fifth win in the Makybe Diva (Craiglee) Stakes. And Grunt’s trainer Mick Price is another of those achievers who just seems to always have a good horse…..or three!

JAMES CUMMINGS: Cannot overstate the results he is getting for Godolphin week in and week out in Sydney and Melbourne, especially with the imports like the impressive Avelius, just one of the treble of wins for the team on Saturday.

JOE PRIDE: What a run the astute Warwick Farm trainer is enjoying with the veteran sprinter Ball Of Muscle winning back to back Group races in Melbourne and Sydney. On his current form he deserves an Everest berth!

HIGHLIGHTS

DOTHRAKI: Eased the pain Peter Snowden would have been feeling after the morning setback to Redzel with this old favourite pulling a run out of the box to win the Bobbie Lewis at Flemington. What a horse he has been for the stable and his owners.

JAY FORD: One of Sydney’s best lightweight riders gets a double at Randwick. Always makes the most of his opportunities and rarely says no when asked to ride at a country meeting. Matched Kerrin McEvoy and Glyn Schofield for the riding honours on the day.

JAMIE KAH: Another treble at Morphettville, ho hum! She will win the Adelaide premiership by a street, but her bigger focus will be the battle she will have Victoria’s Linda Meech to be Australia’s leading female rider this season.

BRENT STANLEY: The former top rider can train! Violate first-up win at Flemington adds to his growing reputation for landing well planned coups with his runners. Got the money thanks to another talent Noel Callow doing the job in the saddle - suspect he knew the money was on!

DALE SMITH: What a success he has made of his move to Queensland where his double at Doomben on Saturday underlined the links he has forged with leading stables. Made it four straight wins on Tversky and could make a homecoming by accompanying that promising sprinter if he races in Victoria later in the spring.

ROBERT HEATHCOTE: No better way for the top Brisbane trainer to celebrate his 59th birthday than to prepare a winning double at Doomben.

STEVE ENGLEBRECHT: Sydney trainer lands a first-up Brisbane win with his trial star Goldfinch. The point here is he joined the growing number of trainers willing to border hop with their horses when they see the right race.

LOWLIGHTS

FORM REVERSALS: Jaameh….Siege Of Quebec….Miss Fabulass….they were winners many punters found hard to stomach after their last start failures at short odds, even with tactic changes, better track conditions and other reasons proffered by their stables. As the saying goes, punters talk through their kicks!

FLEMINGTON: Abnormally high number of the fancied failures were reported to be suffering various degrees of lameness, put down to the firmness of the track after the expected rain did not eventuate.

HAPPY CLAPPER: So sad to see such a popular horse out for the spring with an automatic three month ban after a bleeding attack.

MULTAJA: It wasn’t all roses for Godolphin.

NEUTRALITY: Too keen for his own good.

ORDER AGAIN: Has talent, but also has his issues with his desire to win.

RIDE OF THE DAY

CRAIG WILLIAMS: His winning ride on Encryption in the Danehill Stakes at Flemington was vintage Williams. Showed real smarts, timing and skill to come from the inside rails draw and get to the favoured outside rail and take splits as he made his winning run. It’s the form we want to see from him right through the spring.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

HUGH BOWMAN (Winx): “We’ll be lucky to see another one like her, while I’m alive anyway, I think that is a given. How lucky I am to be involved with such a horse.”

THEY SAID IT….

JAMES McDONALD (Le Romain): “I thought I had pinched it, then I thought Winx is in the race. He’s gone very well.”

KRIS LEES (Miss Fabulass): “She has the brilliance of her mum. She just hasn’t got the race sense but it’s coming.”

JOE PRIDE (Ball Of Muscle): “His brother Terravista won a Group One race at eight. The family seem to get better as they get older.”

DARREN BEADMAN (Avilius/Trekking): “The Godolphin royal blue has given the TAB an absolute hiding.” (Trekking made it eight weeks straight that the favourite has won the last Sydney race on a Saturday).

DARREN BEADMAN (Avilius): “He has been a breath of fresh air. He is certainly a proper horse - the world is his oyster.”

MICK PRICE (Grunt): "It wouldn't worry me if we ended up in the Melbourne Cup. All I know is he's a beautiful, big Flemington horse.”

WAYNE HAWKES (Brutal): “He’s going to be a hell of a horse in the autumn. He's not the fully furnished racehorse so for where he is at this stage of his career, it doesn't get any better.”

PETER SNOWDEN (Dothraki): “I'm glad he has won. The disappointment this morning (Redzel) was a bitter pill to swallow.”

DARREN WEIR (Furrion): “We're hoping he turns into a nice stayer one day. We're trying to make him into that.”

BRENTON AVDULLA (Smart Melody): “I've sacrificed a lot of rides in Sydney to come down and ride her, so I'm keen to stay aboard."

DAVID HAYES (Jaameh): “We're shooting for the stars. He'll heading towards the Bart Cummings to secure a Melbourne Cup slot and then we can dream."

STEVE TREGEA (Prioritise): “He really has toughened up. If I had said 12 months ago he would be my biggest earner you would have laughed at me.”

GARY DUNCAN (Tversky): “I think he is up to Melbourne spring class. This horse was spooky early on but the older he has got the better he has got.”

BLACKBOOK

AFTER ALL THAT: Ran out of his skin first-up. Big trial for The Kosciusko.

FUTOOH: Found herself in a jam at wrong time. Wants 1600m.

SANTOS: Forgive as he was locked away when he had plenty to offer.

GRACEFUL STORM: Never tested after she was caught in traffic.

GOOD 'N' FAST: Liked his strong work late. Guineas type.

SHEEZDASHING: Good return from a mare wanting more ground.
Racing and Sports

tags

Winx Miss Fabulass Smart Melody Grunt Avelius Ball Of Muscle DOTHRAKI Redzel Violate Tversky Goldfinch Jaameh Siege Of Quebec HAPPY CLAPPER MULTAJA NEUTRALITY ORDER AGAIN AFTER ALL THAT FUTOOH SANTOS GRACEFUL STORM GOOD ‘N’ FAST SHEEZDASHING

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