The training juggernaut that is the
Ciaron Maher Racing Stables put
TEXCEL and his
Dynamic Syndications Owners back into the
winner’s circle, this time on the
Sandown Hillside track in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Stable jockey John Allen rode the ideal tactical race that we wanted him to follow, to
land a well-deserved victory in the Ladbrokes Bet Ticker Handicap - a Benchmark 64 over 1600m.
TEXCEL won by 1.25 lengths x Short Half-Head in a time of 1:39.13 to claim the
$27,500 Winner’s Cheque.
Carrying 60.0kgs top weight and taking on an odds-on favourite in European import GRID,
TEXCEL was never in doubt over the mile, in a race that was very much about tactics as it was ability in the small field.
Originally a small field of 9 runners at acceptances, we were very bullish the horse would run very well, and then on the morning of the race, there were 4 scratchings which we could only assume was created by a false hype on the favourite, reducing the field to just 5 starters.
TEXCEL had been dropped down the freeway from Sydney to Melbourne to escape the Sydney wet weather and to get him to race the anti-clockwise trip, and that paid off big time as he was able to find a Good 4 surface.
TEXCEL was third up from a spell and out to a suitable 1600m distance, having
now won 3 races and a placing in four runs at the trip. He had resumed over 1250m in BM 78 grade, then 1400m in 68 grade at his previous two runs.
He profiles as a horse that needs to build his fitness into a preparation, and third-up he was ready to race to previous displayed ability levels.
Further, we found a race here that was only a Bm64 having resumed in a Bm72 and then second up in a Bm68. However, under the weight scale, despite dropping so far in grade, he only had to carry 60.0kgs, a weight he was very comfortable with at previous events.
We had no confidence in the favourite GRID due to what we considered was substandard European form, which we felt was not identifying that horse as top shelf.
Also, we have known it takes a long time for the high majority of European horses to acclimatise.
Then he was found wanting first up over 1400m at his first run, when leading and wilting. Bred to stay, he had lost that fresh sprint and was likely to be a plodder second-up.
Our only worry was our own horse, who has been suffering from a back complaint. This was the major decider to send him south.
Along with the weather, we wanted him to race the reverse way and take the pressure off his back as he turned around bends into the straight.
Then on Wednesday morning with the scratchings, it was to us a high probability he should win and if ridden to instruction we were extremely confident.
Our race plan was simple enough. We believed Grid would lead and we would come over and sit at its girth and annoy it, then wait until down the dip at the 400m on the Sandown straight before pushing the
“Go Button.”
When the gates crashed back, the favourite dwelt, and another runner Starspandgled Baby showed a desire to take up the leader’s role. We were drawn to its outside, so John Allen allowed that to take place, and then sat back a little further, to annoy the favourite and put the favourite into a pocket on the fence.
The field just bowled along at a slow tempo until the point of the turn, where the race began in earnest.
The leader dropped out leaving
TEXCEL in front and full of running, with Grid peeling out to be in the running line, whilst State Squad was further back and giving chase to Grid.
The two chasing were out of gas at the 300m, when
Texcel kicked away and those chasing had no answers.
Such was the dominance of the margin and the ease that
Texcel was displaying, John Allen had the luxury over the final 100m to allow
Texcel to glide to the post under his own power, idling down to three-quarter pace and maintaining his leading margin to record a soft win.
We had read the form correctly and the odds-on favourite didn’t even hang on to run second, finishing third of the five.
The win took
TEXCEL’s raceform to
11 starts: 3 Wins, 3 Seconds, 2 Thirds and now $99,425 in earnings with all three wins at 1600m.
We are excited to get him out past a mile in the future.
The Son of EXCEED AND EXCEL is out of the brilliant middle distance Gr2 Winner TIMBOURINA, and we are convinced he has a lot of mum's ability in him and he should handle the rise to
2000m with ease.
Post-race David Eustace was interviewed:
The Racing.com interviewer said: “David we have seen this on occasions, where you bring down some of your NSW trained horses, and quite often they are in the Dynamic Syndications silks. I think we saw it done with Lord Paramount over the summer months, what led to the decision to bring Texcel south?”
David replied: “Yeah, obviously just with the weather, Jo (Johann) and his team at Warwick Farm and Adam Watt (Dynamic Syndications) who, congratulations to him - he recently got married, so it was a good wedding present for him. He probably got a few better ones as well, but it’s been so wet up there, and this horse needs top of the ground, and he got that today and he won well.
The Racing.com interviewer then asked: “Is it your feedback from your team from NSW that as much as its impacting opportunity to race, like there is a meeting off in Sydney today, but its also impacting the quality and composition of the work you are able to get into them?”
David responded: “Yeah definitely, and they do a really good job in identifying an issue, and with him, he gets a sore back and his runs have been a little below par this prep, so that was well diagnosed by them (Stable and Team Dynamic) and he’s had a little bit of time to get over that and he’s been down for a week or so and he’s been on the treadmill, and you can see he has excelled from it.
“He’s always threatened to do that and show that sort of performance, and a few owners here have been very patient with him, and they have been rewarded with this win today and they just might, now that he is in his groove, he’ll gain a bit of confidence from that and hopefully push on.”
The Racing.com interviewer finished by saying “A nice performance there, and a great result for Dynamic Syndications and co, Thanks Dave.”
The Racing.com interviewer then said: “John Allen joins us now after the win by Texcel, and John was it always the intention that you were going to try and control things?”
John replied: “Yeah, I probably thought that the favourite might lead, but when it jumped a little bit slow, it afforded us the opportunity to get in front of him in the run. He (Texcel) always travelled nicely and gave a good kick.
“And being back on the good ground, his form was quite good before a spell, and the last couple of starts he’s been disappointing, and I presumed that why they headed him down here, and they were confident that he would run well today.”
Congratulations and Well Done to our Dynamic Syndications Ownership Team that race TEXCEL:
Dynamic Syndications Racing Synd, Marquee Stud Racing Synd, Mr D A Poletto, Mr A J Luciano, Mr S B Troughton, Mrs C Ciappara, Mr T W Kirkwood, Mr W J Ford, Mr I J Kustreba, Mr M A Williams, Mr D A Cartwright, Mr S Najda, J.A.M Synd.
Texcel wins at Sandown 16.3.22 from Dynamic Syndications on Vimeo.
This win by TEXCEL recorded our 752nd Race Win and our 26th Race Win this season. It was also our 4th Win by our selected horses this week.
Onwards and Upwards!