Poet’s Place shows late in Portland Handicap
The Ladbrokes Portland Handicap may be run over the unusual distance of five-and-a-half furlongs but, as usual, it was a tricky puzzle to solve with 22 runners hurtling down the straight course at Doncaster.
The overall impression had been that there was little draw bias and the field broke into two groups from the stalls but with most of them moving towards the centre track through the first two furlongs, with Tiddliwinks leading into the final furlong until Bajan Tryst came clear for Ryan Moore. Bajan Tryst had edged to the far rail and looked to be safe, only to be cut down in the last two strides by Poet’s Place, under a storming ride by Phillip Makin, for trainer David Barron.
Poet’s Place, who was having only the seventh run of his career, has been brought along patiently by Barron and Makin was equally careful in the race itself, bringing the five-year-old quietly through horses before galvanising the gelding in the last hundred yards to win by a half-length, with Deacon Blues in third and Tiddliwinks in fourth.
Having won over six furlongs on good to soft going at Haydock on his previous start in August, there was a view that Poet’s Voice might be a soft-ground horse but his trainer is not so sure. “I don’t know that he doesn’t go on quicker ground, the bigger worry was coming back to five-and-a-half furlongs with him,” Barron said. “He needed that last half-furlong, he was doing his best work late. He didn’t want five, he wanted five-and-a-half. I don’t think he particularly needs soft ground - it’s not the key to him. He’s probably a six-furlong horse and the worry was five-and-a-half furlongs on fast ground.”
The winner, who had not even seen a racecourse until winning a maiden at Southwell last December, may now be asked to make up for lost time as Barron could bring Poet’s Place out again next Saturday for a crack at the Ayr Gold Cup, for which he recieves a 5lb penalty for this win. “We’ll see how he is, won’t we,” Barron said. “If he comes out of this race ok it would be the plan - he’ll get a 5lb penalty. But it’s a week away and 24 hours in the life of a horse is a h**l of a long time.
“We have saved him [for Ayr] and this race was an afterthought. Half the reason for coming here was that we would need a penalty to get into the Ayr Gold Cup anyway and I just thought that the ground was going to come for him here so I thought ‘let’s have a grab at this’. But he was in good form anyway.”
William Buick was in flying form after Arctic Cosmos won the St Leger but he quickly had his mind back on the job to land a treble on the card with John Gosden. Buthelezi, who looked almost as green as the colours of owner Princess Haya Of Jordan, needed the kid gloves treatment from Buick to win the in the Powell Engineering Nursery. Buthelezi hung left under the whip but Buick got him back on an even keel and had the confidence to ride a hands-and-heels finish to win by a nose.
“My worry with him was that his mind might get in the way with him,” Gosden said. “He’s very awkward mentally at home, hangs everywhere and went through Warren Hill Woods when we worked him last week. I only found out from his breeder after we bought him that his half-brother had to have a year of because of his awkwardness
“He hung left when he won at Yarmouth last time and William gave him a clever ride to get up by a nose. Whereas the St Leger was quite straightforward, this was an unccaily good ride. William said that he hit the horse twice and then realised it was best to leave him alone.
“I wasn’t sure he was going to get there but he would have been an unlucky loser.”
Buick and Gosden also won with Senate who could return to Doncaster for the November Handicap in two months’ time.
http://www.senore.com/Arctic-Cosmos-reaches-stars-in-St-Leger-a26635http://www.senore.com/Champagne-moment-for-Saamidd-a26632
http://www.senore.com/Sans-Frontieres-takes-Irish-St-Leger-a26636
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