If you’d read Bart Sinclair’s preview in
the Courier Mail last Saturday morning, you might have still been a little
reluctant to take the short odds on Bel Esprit sprinter, Found The One in the
Peroni Handicap over 1010m at Doomben.
As Bart pointed out: Found The One, to be
ridden by Jim Byrne today, is leaping from a midweek Maiden win to a Saturday
no metro win class sprint. That’s a huge jump.
But it was no ordinary midweek effort. Found
The One was wide throughout when she won at Eagle Farm on September 7 posting a
margin of six lengths and clocking in at a sizzling 57.36sec to easily eclipse
the class record.
Found The One came from eighth at the
entrance to the straight so feasibly was well inside the official final 600m
sectional time of 33.78, clearly the fastest of the seven races on the card.
In addition to a big class rise, Found The
One has to cope with barrier 13 from a start notoriously tough for widely drawn
runners.
Statistics for the past three years show
only one horse has been successful from barrier 13 in 134 races.
To balance that statistic, there has been
fewer than 13 runners in many of those races.
Brett Killion, the manager of Patinack’s
Queensland stable, said Found The One would be ridden similarly to her last
start.
“I think we’ve discovered she likes to have
time to find her feet. It’s not a good gate but with luck she should be in the
finish despite the class rise,” Killion said.
Well history shows that the mare settled
near last from the jump and was still in ninth place heading to the 400m,
before unleashing a withering burst to score comfortably on the line.
Horses that come from that far back tend to
induce heart flutters but it certainly makes for good theatre.
Racing Queensland reported: Found The One
looked to be in a hopeless position with only one runner behind her in the
early stages before producing a barn storming finish to maintain her unbeaten
record in Queensland.
The 4YO daughter of Bel Esprit made an
equally spectacular debut, winning by six lengths in maiden company at Eagle
Farm earlier this month.
Trainer John Thompson’s Queensland foreman,
Brett Killion, was almost speechless after the mare rocketed home: “That was
something special … it was good to see her back-up 10 days after winning her
maiden in emphatic style.
“I couldn’t have been more impressed. At
one stage there it was 50-50 whether she could get there in time to win.”
Found The One’s time of 57.43 seconds was fractionally
outside Starlactic’s class record of 57.04 seconds established in 2005.
Jockey Jim Byrne, who was deputising for
the suspended Tim Bell, also marvelled at the victory.
“That took my breath away,” Byrne declared.
“She’s outstanding. It was such a big jump from winning a midweek maiden to
winning in this company.
“She was very relaxed right through the run
and she did it comfortably in the end.”
Although Found The One was no slouch when
racing in Sydney with placings at Warwick Farm and Kensington (and only two
‘failures’ on heavy tracks), she has certainly blossomed up north and it will
be interesting to see what she does throughout the spring.
It would appear she’s up to whatever John
Thompson throws at her.
By Bel Esprit from the prolific mare, Drop
Anchor, Found The One is a full sister to both Group One winner Bel Mer and the
Group winner Mooring.
