A TERRIFIC FIND

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.