Gear Change Works As Zupaone Gives Them A Licking
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 6, 2008
AS GEAR changes go for horses, a tongue-tie is one of the more mundane, but it might have been something that simple that enabled the highly rated Zupaone to turn his form around at Caulfield yesterday.
The four-year-old has had a "wrap" on him since he first raced, but has had to overcome a series of setbacks, including a fracture of the fetlock joint and pulled muscles in his back, and just when his co-trainers John Symons and Sheila Laxon thought they finally had him right, up popped the tongue problem after his disappointing first-up run at Caulfield on March 24.Mystified as to why he ran so poorly, Laxon, who sometimes rides the Flying Spur entire in his work, said she could hear a flapping sound, which might have been the horse trying to swallow his tongue.The tongue-tie, usually made from an old pair of panty-hose, was used on Zupaone in a trial at Seymour last Monday, which he won, and was added to his gear for yesterday's Sports Handicap (1100 metres).Instead of overracing as he had at his previous start, Zupaone, who eased from $10 to $13, sat off the pace and, despite a bumping duel with Mondano at the top of the straight, came with a strong run to beat Northern Point ($10) by three-quarters of a length, with Something Anything ($4.80), who got clear only when the race was over, a neck away third.Mondano finished fourth and his rider Chris Symons then lodged a protest against Zupaone for alleged interference near the 200 metres, which was quickly dismissed.The race was set up for the runners-on when the favourite Morgan Dollar ($2) scorched in front but got very tired in the final 100 metres and weakened to fifth.His rider Willie Hernan said the three-year-old "blew" badly after the race, which suggested he might have been short of a gallop since his impressive win against his own age at Caulfield on March 22.It was the first city win this season for the Symons-Laxon partnership and Laxon said they would be taking Zupaone to the winter carnival in Brisbane for races such as the Doomben 10,000 and the Stradbroke Handicap.? If Simon Miller's actual training career takes off anywhere near as well as his current role, he is destined for success. Miller, 31, who works for Aquanita Racing and will run its Perth stable when it opens in June or July, was the stand-in "trainer" for another three winners at Caulfield yesterday, a job he has been filling admirably in recent weeks.He has acted for Aquanita's Robert Smerdon, Tony Vasil and Adelaide-based Richard Jolly, who had two recent winners in Melbourne.Yesterday, with Smerdon in Sydney, Miller looked after his two winners, the two-year-old Turquia and Coniston Gem, winner of the day's feature race, the listed Anniversary Vase (1400 metres).In between, it was the Vasil-trained Rich Success, winner of the So Called Super Vobis Handicap (2000 metres).
© 2008 The Sunday Age
