 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2011
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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There's very little consolation for having to scratch the favourite out of a Group 1 event at Addington. Apart from winning the race with your second-stringer, of course.
Such was the predicament that Cran Dalgaty found himself in on Saturday night at Addington...just hours after breaking the news to one set of owners that Raging Bull wasn't right to take part in the NZ Welcome Stakes, Dalgety was receiving handshakes from another when Orl Black held on to win the Avon City Ford-sponsored thriller.
Not that stable client Ross Stanbury minded either way, because he's listed in the ownership of both juveniles - racing the unbeaten Raging Bull in partnership with Trevor Inwood and Haleem David, and joining Pete, Debbie and Patricia Smith together with Clive and Rona McKay as the bill-payers for Orl Black.
"There's nothing seriously wrong with Raging Bull," Dalgety confirmed. "You just get a lot of little coughs and colds amongst the team when the Winter snaps start coming at this time of year. We had a few wee health issues with Orl Black recently too. But he's over his, whereas Raging Bull's still coming through some."
Orl Black was faced with the widest draw over 1950 metres on Saturday night, and Dalgety says he and his number one reinsman Dexter Dunn discussed how best to tackle barrier eight. "It wasn't really the plan to lead," he said. "From out there you can either roll forward and hope that you don't spend too much petrol getting handy, or pull back to last - but if you do the latter you lose all momentum and can't kick -start again. So I said to Dex, you just make the call fifty metres before release."
If anything, Orl Black made Dunn's decision for him as they speared forward at a great rate from wide out, and once in front they did enough to beat a game Alberto Contador after that rival had eyeballed them for the last half-mile. "He's quite an authoritative little competitor, so he probably wanted to roll the gate anyway," Dalgety continued. "And because he's got a lot of speed, he made crossing them look easier than it was. But it was probably the winning of the race, as he got to set up his own terms in front. You can never head into a Group 1 race feeling cocky, because eight out of them out there are as good as each other, but his work this week had been awesome again."
Purchased 'on spec' from Day Two of last year's Premier Sale for $52,000, Orl Black is an In The Pocket colt out of Cracker Kate, a winless Holmes Hanover daughter of Pleasant Franco; this makes him a three-quarter brother to Christian Cullen and Julius Caesar, amongst others. Nowdays the 'golden cross' seems to be Bettor's Delights out of In The Pocket mares," Dalgety says. "But it always used to be In The Pockets out of Holmes mares. And I've had a good run with the In The Pockets; I bought him because of his stature, he looked like he'd make a 2-year-old. Everything he wins from here on in is a bonus," Dalgety added, referring to the fact that Orl Black's $45,025 cheque for first on Saturday night took his earnings to over $65,000 in five starts.
Dalgety's Kentuckiana Lodge had another runner in the Welcome Stakes on Saturday - Texican, who staged a mammoth performance for sixth after being caught three-wide without cover for the entire journey, with his driver Mark Jones stating afterwards that "he would've run third had I been able to steer him".
All three 2-year-olds have the same programme for the next couple of months...the Sales Series Open Final on May 14, the Sires' Stakes Final a week later, and the Harness Jewels 2YO Emerald at Ashburton in early June. "Orl Black has run third in a heat of the Sires' Stakes, which I'd like to think would get him into the Final, but we'll start in the last heat if we have to," Dalgety said. "He's more in the mould of an early runner, whereas Raging Bull is quite big in stature, and doesn't look like a natural 2-year-old. That's why we think he's a wee bit special, and he feels like he's got a bit of stamina too. Texican is about a month behind the other two in foundation, but ability-wise he's shown that he's not a million miles behind them. And Mark is quite confident about him as well. There doesn't seem to ba a standout amongst the youngsters this year yet, eveyone's having their turn."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 28 April 2011