Saturday, August 02, 2008

Finally Maz Gets a Run



Maz had a run at Ballina last Tuesday. Unfortunately I couldnt get there due to being back at work, however, I slipped out from the farm and went to the well patronized (lol ... I was the only one there!) TAB at Oakey.

Evan, however made the 3 and a half hour journey down to Ballina for the race. Iam sure that he regretted the effort after Maz's behaviour in the race. Granted he had barrier 123 of 123 and it was a Heavy 10 track. Here is Evan's account of the race:-

Maz was looking very good before the race, Phil was confident he'd go well. He was on the toe in the mounting enclosure, and appeared ready to run. Jamie deliberately pulled him back at the start to try to give him some cover & time to settle, however the leaders got away on him a bit. When Jamie asked him to go as the field turned off the back, Maz just wanted to hug the fence which caused Jamie to have to work hard on him to get him going. The horse who eventually ran 4th, was behind Maz at the 600m and circled the field, however despite Jamie's urgings, all Maz wanted to do was get to the inside. On straightening, again Jamie endeavoured to get Maz to the outside, but he wanted to lay in. This will be obvious on replays, with Maz's head on the near side caused by Jamie tugging so hard on the reigns. Jamies eased up on him the last 100m as he had had enough by then.

Jamie thinks he needs a little further, and remember, he hadn't had a run for over 5 weeks, so he will be better for today's outing. I watched 4 races at Ballina this afternoon, and listened to one on the radio, and not one horse made up ground to finish in the placings that I saw or heard. It may have been different later in the day, however you had to be on pace, close to the fence to have any hope.

Phil will look for a 1400m-1500m maiden for him in a couple of weeks. What he needs is to draw inside so the jockey can get him up closer to the lead, an impossible ask from the outside barrier at Ballina from the 1250m start. He seemed to pull up okay, will wait for a report tomorrow morning.

Where there is life, there is hope.

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