Mars suffers upset defeat in Meld Stakes – Horseracing news
Mars failed to meet the expectations of his camp in the Jockey Club of Turkey Meld Stakes (Group 3) at Leopardstown in Ireland on Thursday, July 25, 2013.
The young challenger was rated as the favourite to succeed, but could not deliver a winning performance in the race. The punters had gambled quite a few bets on him and they would have been hoping to earn some easy money at the end of the day, but that was
not the case, as the victory belonged to Scintillula.
Joseph O'Brien, who was partnering Mars in the race was disappointed with the result and said that the ground conditions were not very good, which saw the upset. He would have liked running under normal circumstances, but the weather changed the situation
in someone else’s favour.
According to the young rider, “He hated the ground. I came upsides Kevin Manning to go and win my race in the straight but as soon as he hit the soft ground he couldn't handle it at all. When he comes back on good ground you'll see the horse we think he
is.”
This was the sixth outing for Mars overall and his strike rate has dropped down even further. He has been unable to win races with consistency despite the fact that the bookies rate his pretty highly. If he continues to fail like this, he will lose confidence
to appear in major competitions.
On the other hand, Scintillula was a huge surprise for one and all, as she was given a general starting price of 6 to 1. She did not start really well, but was under control of things afterwards. This was the second victory of her career.
According to the winning trainer Jim Bolger, “She's tough. She's come right now and is hardy. In the Spring she wasn't but we got a foundation into her and she's benefitting from it now. The ground turning soft in the straight was a concern but I was happy
with the way she picked up on it.”
Talking about the future, Bolger said that there are some very good options like the Yorkshire Oaks, but the Give Thanks Stakes can also be a possibility.
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