24/10/2018  Happy Valley  Race 8

KEEP WINNING was crowded for room on jumping between MIDNIGHT RATTLER and TELECOM BROTHERS which shifted out. JOLLY CONVERGENCE and MR PICASSO bumped at the start. HARRIER JET and PHANTOM FALCON, which began awkwardly, were crowded for room on jumping between SPARKLING DRAGON and JUMBO HAPPINESS which shifted out. In this incident, SPARKLING DRAGON became unbalanced after being bumped by PHANTOM FALCON. After the 800 Metres, JUMBO HAPPINESS was left racing wide and without cover. MR PICASSO made the turn after the 600 Metres awkwardly, shifted out and bumped JUMBO HAPPINESS. Passing the 150 Metres, PHANTOM FALCON, which was giving ground, was momentarily steadied away from the heels of MR PICASSO which shifted out. Close to the finishing line, ZERO HEDGE was awkwardly placed inside the heels of SPARKLING DRAGON and consequently was not able to be ridden out all the way to the end of the race. After the race, M Chadwick reported that HERO TIME did not travel comfortably at any stage of the race and, despite being hard ridden for the majority of the race, would not improve its position. A veterinary inspection of HERO TIME immediately following the race revealed that the horse was displaying an irregular heart rhythm, however, the horse was unable to be scoped due to being fractious. Before being allowed to race again, HERO TIME will be required to perform satisfactorily in a barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. When questioned, D Whyte stated that, from a wide barrier, he was asked to shift HARRIER JET across behind runners in the early stages to obtain a position closer to the rail. He said making the first turn near the 1000 Metres he was trailing JOLLY CONVERGENCE and he anticipated that HARRIER JET would be able to maintain this position. He said the tempo of the race after the 1000 Metres was quite quick and HARRIER JET, despite being ridden along, was unable to maintain its positon behind JOLLY CONVERGENCE. He said despite his endeavours, HARRIER JET was unable to make up ground to obtain a position closer to the runners in front and this resulted in HARRIER JET getting out of its ground in the early stages. He said, in his opinion, he would have had to ride HARRIER JET quite aggressively in order to make limited ground and whilst he was not comfortable that HARRIER JET had got out of its ground, he did not believe that it would be able to finish off the race strongly if he was required to ride the horse too aggressively. He added HARRIER JET was able to make up ground on the runners in front rounding the Home Turn and then made up good ground along the rail until the concluding stages. He said he did not anticipate that ZERO HEDGE and SPARKLING DRAGON would weaken as they did over the concluding stages and when HARRIER JET finished off the race strongly, this resulted in HARRIER JET being awkwardly placed behind ZERO HEDGE and SPARKLING DRAGON over the final stages. D Whyte was advised that his explanation would be reported, however, he was told to ensure that he makes every endeavour to prevent his mounts from getting too far out of their ground. He was also advised to ensure that he positions his mounts such that they are able to obtain clear running in the Straight wherever circumstances permit. JADE THEATRE and MR PICASSO were sent for sampling.