MEDVEDEV (3yo gelding Commands / Rossiya (FR)) made it 2 wins in 3 race career starts, when he annihilated his older opponents at Benalla on Sunday.
The Peter Moody trained MEDVEDEV (named after the current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev because Rossiya in Russian means: of Russia “country” and also Head of Military - who actually is Dmitry Medvedev) was ridden a treat by Luke Nolen and recorded his second career win from three race starts and in the process, stamped himself as a promising middle distance candidate. In particular, we look forward to the racing seasons to come, when he benefits from a break away from the racing stable and enjoys a few weeks holiday before coming back a more mature and experienced individual.
In the meantime, the exciting son of Commands has the opportunity to build on his already impressive resume.
On Sunday at Benalla, MEDVEDEV won race 7, the Bridgestone Benalla Dueler Handicap – 1406m a 62 Benchmark event. On a Slow 6 track with a penetrometer of 6.24 and the rail true, he scored by an amazing 4.8 lengths x 2 lengths in 1:25.03.
The 3yo gave his ten older opponents a galloping lesson. The ease at which he did so was something to behold. Whilst the opposition was several grades inferior to what he met last start, all you can do is defeat them. To do so by a massive 4.8 lengths eased up on the line, says it all.
MEDVEDEV gapped his oposition at Benella
Nonetheless, he did it the hard way. As mentioned in the Stewards report, Medvedev was slowly away, which lost him ground in the 11 horse field. He settled back well off the pace in 9th position at least 10 lengths or more off the speed and 3 deep from the 800m. As the field swung into the home turn, Luke Nolen pushed on out wide, being forced wider still as horses underneath him started to make their runs. As they turned for home, Medvedev was out very wide almost to the outside rail, at least 8 deep.
As soon as he balanced up, he went “whoosh !” In a blink, the horse hit the front and Luke gave him a kick along to keep his mind on the job. The further they went, the further he got infront. It was a galloping lesson considering he was only a pre Christmas 3yo taking on the older horses and was still carrying 58.0kgs as a Benchmark 61 horse against experienced campaigners, where several of them had won on at least three occasions.
The team at Moody Racing was very pleased and nobody more so than the boss Peter Moody who has turned this rough diamond into a sparkling gem, full of promise.
Peter had always wanted to get the horse to settle back in behind runners with something to chase. In his first start, he wore winkers and got a bit fired up early and sat on the pace over 1300m, when he fought out a courageous win. Then at his second start Peter changed him up to blinkers but that backfired, as it got him over racing and he was also subsequently found to have his airways full of mucus from a virus. A few easy days and treatment to clear up his throat infection got the horse back on track. Then Peter had his mind on this event but had him nominated for a few back up races. It was again a masterstroke by Peter to go this route with the horse.
We also particularly acknowledge and thank gun rider Luke Nolen who gave up his Sunday with his family to head to Benalla especially considering it was Werribee Cup Day.
The stable have had a good opinion of Medvedev for a long time but acknowledged he was very much a work in progress. He does a lot wrong as he is still learning his craft. The stable was very confident he would run well at his Caulfield run and were at a loss initially to explain the poor performance but the subsequent finding of the throat infection and blinkers making him over-race, conspired to defeat him.
Medvedev showed his class winning by an huge margin
With the blinkers off and ridden patiently by Luke Nolen, his natural talent was exposed.
Naturally it’s up to the horse to continue to take the next steps to make it up the class ladder but on what we have all seen, the future suggests he will handle the rise with ease.
Peter Moody reported to our owners that:
“Exactly what we wanted to see from Medvedev yesterday when putting him back in grade at Benalla with a dominant win in his 1400m event.”
Medvedev at home at Caulfield
‘Not just an impressive win, but seeing him race in behind them and gain confidence from running past horses easily, this is what he needed to do to develop into the middle distance horse we would like him to be.”
Watch the race above
As a result of Sunday’s easy victory, Peter intends to give him a few easy days before raising the bar a little higher and get him out a bit in trip if possible up to 1600m but the horse will not be rushed.
Dean Watt purchased the colt for Dynamic Syndications from the William Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in 2011. Unbelievably we grabbed him from session 2 for just $55,000 + GST.
MEDVEDEV as a yearling
In fact, Dean Watt was interviewed by the TVN crew at the sales and discussed what a top buy the colt was and how he was a genuine saleyard bargain.
Above is the interview,
It’s amazing to sit back and watch it in hindsight knowing we have a potentially handy middle distance galloper on our hands.
The best decision we made was to reject an offer to sell him outright to a Hong Kong owner before we had syndicated him. We believed we had the right horse and felt it was in Dynamic Syndications client’s best interest that we syndicate him. I am glad we followed this course of action.
MEDVEDEV became Dynamic Syndications 19th Winner this 2012-13 racing season and our 43rd win for the 2012 Calendar Year and our 309th overall since October 2005
Congratulations to the team of Dynamic Syndications Owners that race the promising MEDVEDEV:
Dynamic Syndications Racing Syndicate (Mgr D Watt), Victory Chips Syndicate (Mgr A Hodges, B Fairnie), R Towne, R F Carthew, D H Sutton, W D Clem, B R S Racing Syndicate (Mgr B Brown, S Green, R Dow), Dynamic No 27 Syndicate (Mgr D Watt, Mrs J Park, J Williams, K Cleghorn), Dynamic No 28 Syndicate (Mgr D Watt, K Draper, W Xie, W Prentis) & T J Guthrie.