Obviously Zac Lloyd, so “GOOD” on Tamerlane at Royal Randwick last Saturday, promises to be the major hurdle for Nash Rawiller’s current premiership bid.
When his blood is up, the recent situation at headquarters, Rawiller, arms and legs flailing answering the call of a superb tactical mind, is a sight to behold.
Lloyd, only 20, though, nursed, cajoled and kicked home four winners, and outgunned, Rawiller, 49, in the Winter Handicap.
Tamerlane qualified for “BAD” with a form reversal: a dismal sixth at Warwick Farm previously with the heavy eight ground offered as a reason. Randwick on Saturday was also a heavy eight but it didn’t hinder the gelding’s flight – with Lloyd in the saddle. Horses these days are so subjective they can differentiate between wet surfaces.
Rawiller now trails the out-of-action James McDonald on 83 wins for the season by nine but 99 percent of other rivals it would have been eight after their clash when Tamerlane proved too good for Rawiller’s Iknowastar with King Of The Castle, who should have won, just behind them with Lloyd impeding his progress.
Rawiller was all over the course proper on Saturday endeavouring to cut back JMac’s lead. Sure, it’s end of season racing but when a jockey like rangy Rawiller is pulling out all stops it’s memorable: a top professional currently jousting with a young lion.
Perhaps Rawiller only notched a double only but two placings emphasised his urgency. Rawiller came from last along the inside, before going down half head when third on Navy Blood in the Midway. Later he navigated a bold path down the extreme outside for third on Ace Of Sail, beaten a half-length, in the Task Handicap that caught the attention of stewards. Why did he take that course?
The jockey explained that walking the surface earlier he had deduced that it was faster out wide than in the middle of the track, but not the rail.
Thus he adjusted his compass, zigzagging and landing a plonks on Contemporary (Catanach’s Jewellers) and Rhapsody Chic (Tab), trained by Anthony and Sam Freedman at Mornington. Rhapsody Chic stressed the current successful Victorian presence on Sydney racing and shifted out abruptly after the finish on his own behest, not the jockey’s.
Apart from Lloyd and Rawiller equine, equine consistency was a feature on Saturday. One Destiny who notched his third win in the Thank You ATC and second from four last starts for the astute trainer Gary Nickson at Randwick while Dar Lunn’s restless Elson Boy was anything but disgraced when second following six triumphs behind the prepared special Contemporary in the Catanach’s.
But the Brit-bred Munhamek, a rising nine-year-old, was a major player for “GOOD” with his third straight and very strong victory in the Winter Championships. Take a bow trainer Nick Ryan.
Certainly, the triumph of South Sydney, the team not just a Latrell Mitchell, cannot be overlooked in “GOOD”. Mitchell played strong against the Eels but no better than his opposing fullback Clint Gutherson, who didn’t get the same acclaim. It was a team effort by the Rabbits, with Cody Walker back in the groove, and they get their chance to confirm the spirit is back in coming weeks. Why has it taken so long? Defence has been good and wise guys are saying Don Furner, the specialist instructor, has put steel into it.
On the subject of coaches, the Swans John Longmire figures after the St Kilda clash last Sunday, highlighted by Issac Heaney, under fire due to what appeared a push, allegedly a strike on an opposition’s Jimmy Webster’s face, producing red torrent. Maybe Webster was on blood thinners. But the result was “UGLY” for Heaney.
“Alarm bells are a bit drastic,” Longmire said after the second defeat in two weeks. With matching winning goals missed in the last minute it’s a siren that necessitates to dinosaurs eyes shut and facing the opposite direction.
“We’ve had a pretty good season …..” Longmire added after the defeat.
Maybe so, but it sounds like the trainer of a Melbourne Cup candidate saying he’s satisfied with leadup races but running 10th in the Big One.
