The benefit of hindsight can go a long way in racing and such adage was again proven true in the opening event of the 12-race programme on Sunday.French jockey Olivier Placais used the experience of his first ride aboard Handsome Bachelor at his last outing on January 6 to winning effect at his next booking on the same galloper in Sunday’s $35,000 Maiden-1 race over 1400m.
At their first pairing, Placais dropped the Bachelor Duke four-year-old off the pace from an awkward alley but the tactics proved fruitless as they barely made any ground in the home straight, beaten five lengths by Perfect Kid.
With trainer Stephen Gray back in New Zealand to attend the Karaka Sales, Placais had a pre-race discussion with stabe supervisor Matthew Lewis and the consensus reached was to go the other way – lead.
Carrying the Copper Belt Stable colours of blue and yellow checks, Handsome Bachelor ($41) pinged out of the gate and had little trouble finding the lead on settling with Onepluszero (Ivaldo Santana) on his hindquarters and Alpha Infinity (Opie Bosson) right behind in the box-seat.
Handsome Bachelor stacked up the speed coming off the back to round the home turn still full of running, but when Alpha Infinity was peeled out wide for his run, it looked like the maiden galloper with a record of 10 runs for three thirds would again bite the dust.
But when Placais got into overdrive, Handsome Bachelor kept finding on the rails while Alpha Infinity was not quickening as expected. The fast-finishing Super Velox (Stephen Baster) however burst through inside the last 100m looking like he could peg him back, but the winning post arrived on time for Handsome Bachelor who fell in by half-a-length from Super Velox who was recording his first placing in seven runs.
Third was More Than Worthy (Joao Moreira) who loomed up as a big threat at the 200m but flattened out a little towards the end to settle for third another one length away. The winning time was 1min 24.4secs.
“At his last start, he drew a bad gate and he didn’t fire when we got back. He just weakened home,” said Placais.
“This time I did my homework and Matt and I decided we should go forward. I was able to slow down the pace at the 700m.
“The horse was always on the bit and never ran into the ground at any stage. When Opie’s horse came up, I thought he would beat us, but my horse fought back very well and got the money.”
Lewis said they decided on a plan to race positive after realising there were not many speedsters in the race.
“He was unlucky at his last start as he was drawn wide. I told Olivier to jump in a good position this time as there was not a lot of speed in the race,” he said.
“If he can do that, I just told him to then use his head. I must say he rode him very well.
“He’s a horse who did show some ability at his first few starts, but he lost his way after that. Things fell into place this time and he deserved a win just to let him grow in confidence.”
Carrying the Copper Belt Stable colours of blue and yellow checks, Handsome Bachelor ($41) pinged out of the gate and had little trouble finding the lead on settling with Onepluszero (Ivaldo Santana) on his hindquarters and Alpha Infinity (Opie Bosson) right behind in the box-seat.
Handsome Bachelor stacked up the speed coming off the back to round the home turn still full of running, but when Alpha Infinity was peeled out wide for his run, it looked like the maiden galloper with a record of 10 runs for three thirds would again bite the dust.
But when Placais got into overdrive, Handsome Bachelor kept finding on the rails while Alpha Infinity was not quickening as expected. The fast-finishing Super Velox (Stephen Baster) however burst through inside the last 100m looking like he could peg him back, but the winning post arrived on time for Handsome Bachelor who fell in by half-a-length from Super Velox who was recording his first placing in seven runs.
Third was More Than Worthy (Joao Moreira) who loomed up as a big threat at the 200m but flattened out a little towards the end to settle for third another one length away. The winning time was 1min 24.4secs.
“At his last start, he drew a bad gate and he didn’t fire when we got back. He just weakened home,” said Placais.
“This time I did my homework and Matt and I decided we should go forward. I was able to slow down the pace at the 700m.
“The horse was always on the bit and never ran into the ground at any stage. When Opie’s horse came up, I thought he would beat us, but my horse fought back very well and got the money.”
Lewis said they decided on a plan to race positive after realising there were not many speedsters in the race.
“He was unlucky at his last start as he was drawn wide. I told Olivier to jump in a good position this time as there was not a lot of speed in the race,” he said.
“If he can do that, I just told him to then use his head. I must say he rode him very well.
“He’s a horse who did show some ability at his first few starts, but he lost his way after that. Things fell into place this time and he deserved a win just to let him grow in confidence.”
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