06/01/2010  Happy Valley  Race 6

SOLAR ENERGY began awkwardly. Passing the winning post on the first occasion, O’REILLY MAGIC and THE WITCH’S BROOM bumped. LASKER was steadied away from the heels of THE WITCH’S BROOM in consequence. When questioned regarding the improved performance of PACKING BUDDY, Trainer L Ho stated that, in his opinion, the horse had benefited by being able to obtain an uncontested lead after finding the running rail. He said at its first up run this season, PACKING BUDDY travelled wide and without cover and weakened in the Straight. He said as he believed that PACKING BUDDY was better suited when able to find the rail, he stepped the horse up in distance at its most recent start to 1800 Metres at Sha Tin as he was of the belief this would have afforded the horse every opportunity to be able to find the running rail. He said however, in his opinion, the horse had not run out the 1800 Metres of the race and this accounted for its disappointing performance in that race. He said accordingly he dropped PACKING BUDDY back in distance for tonight’s race. He said although PACKING BUDDY’s track work had improved in the lead up to tonight’s race, its win was not anticipated by the stable, particularly having drawn the outside barrier. Mr Ho was advised that now that PACKING BUDDY had established form, it would be expected to race consistently wherever circumstances permit. When questioned, D Beadman (JUGGERNAUT) stated that he had been instructed to obtain a position behind the leaders if possible, however, if no other rider wished to lead the race, he should allow the horse to go forward but he was not to make use of it to do so. He said he was advised by Mr S Woods, the trainer of JUGGERNAUT, that the horse had compounded at its two most recent starts when made use of to obtain a forward position in the early stages. He said that after being loaded, JUGGERNAUT became fractious and lunged the front gates. He said after the horse began satisfactorily, he formed the opinion that he would have had to make use of JUGGERNAUT to go forward and for this reason he elected to steady JUGGERNAUT and attempt to obtain a position behind runners with cover. He said in order to obtain cover, he was obliged to shift in behind BLEDISLOE passing the winning post on the first occasion, however, this was much further back in the field than had been anticipated. Mr Woods confirmed that he had instructed D Beadman not to make use of JUGGERNAUT under any circumstances in the early stages as he had been most disappointed with the manner in which the horse had weakened when ridden in a forward position at its two most recent starts. He added three starts ago when the horse ran second, it had been ridden behind leaders with cover and, in his opinion, the horse had finished off the race well. He said for this reason he had hoped that the horse would be able to be ridden in a similar manner tonight and anticipated the speed of the race would be fair and that this would have permitted JUGGERNAUT to take a position behind the leaders. He stated he agreed with Jockey Beadman’s decision not to ride JUGGERNAUT along in the early stages as to do so would have been contrary to his instructions. He said although JUGGERNAUT raced further back than had been intended tonight, he preferred that this be the case rather than had JUGGERNAUT been ridden along early and then not be able to close off the race. When questioned, D Whyte stated that he had been instructed to obtain cover on MOON CHASER if possible as Mr P O’Sullivan, the trainer of the horse, was of the opinion that MOON CHASER is best suited when able to follow other horses. He said he rode MOON CHASER along in the early stages to cross runners to his inside and after obtaining the fence steadied MOON CHASER to allow PACKING BUDDY to cross. He said when he did this, the tempo of the race slowed and MOON CHASER then proved somewhat difficult to settle. He said he gave consideration to allowing MOON CHASER to improve to race outside PACKING BUDDY, however, given his instructions and the manner in which MOON CHASER was racing, he believed that had he allowed the horse to stride forward, it would have continued to over-race and would not have been able to finish off the race. He said he allowed THE WITCH’S BROOM to improve around his outside near the 700 Metres so that MOON CHASER would be taken into the race. He said MOON CHASER became unbalanced rounding the Home Turn when racing tight inside THE WITCH’S BROOM and from this point onwards did not travel as he thought it would. He said he immediately commenced riding MOON CHASER along, however, the horse, in his opinion, finished off the race fairly. D Whyte was advised that his explanation would be noted, however, in the opinion of the Stewards, he should have allowed MOON CHASER to stride forward to race outside PACKING BUDDY rather than restraining the horse which resulted in it over-racing. A veterinary inspection of BLEDISLOE after the race revealed that the horse was displaying an irregular heart rhythm. Before being permitted to race again, BLEDISLOE will be required to perform satisfactorily in an official barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. MOON CHASER, PACKING BUDDY and O’REILLY MAGIC were sent for sampling.