A knockout win
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Jason Taylor (red cap) encourages Punch Up to the front
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The conditions were in his favour for Punch Up to win the Racetree QTIS 3YO Handicap 1400m at Eagle Farm on Saturday, July 5 according to Gold Coast trainer Peter Balzen.
A great ride by the jockey, a good barrier, wet track breeding and the right distance all amounted to the victory.
Ridden by Jason Taylor from barrier three, Punch Up (G3 Sunday Knight-School Blue) got fast away but settled back mid field. He kept trying in the straight and made a late change to claim the win a long head in front of Our Magic (Kelvin Wharton).
A further length and a quarter back Shudule Gee (Mandy Radecker) placed third.
“It was a good win,” said Balzen.
“It was a particularly good ride from Jason Taylor. He was hell bent on getting to the correct part of the track.”
“I was also impressed with the way, at about the last 50 yards, he put the stick away when the horse wasn’t going to catch the other one and the horse responded by putting his head out right on the line.”
“It was all due to Taylor doing that, it was really good.”
The track was downgraded to heavy after race three and Balzen thought Punch Up would handle it.
“He’s that sort of horse that seems to go through anything in trackwork. Also he’s basically bred to handle anything. He’s by a Sunday Silence sire coming out of a Geiger Counter mare so that’s really sort of wet track breeding.”
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Delighted with his win Peter Balzen (Noel Pascoe photos)
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Punch Up placed third at Doomben just over a week earlier and Dalzen was confident he was due for a win.
“It’s only been seven runs (since his last win). Some of them have been wasted a little bit, racing him too short. He’s not really competitive until he hits the 1300m.”
“His two runs back from the spell were very good. He didn’t have much luck in either, I think, he got caught three wide without cover in both runs. You know he certainly could have won one or both of those.”
“We were relatively confident heading into it that the 1400m would suit him and he’d drawn well. As it turned out that didn’t have a big impact but leading into the race we thought he was always going to get a nice run and he was very forward because he was backing up eight days later and had done really well so we thought he’d be very strong at 1400m in the conditions.”
Balzen is also a part-owner of Punch Up and the gelding has earned $71,700 for connections including $25,900 in QTIS bonuses.
“It’s always thrilling when your own horse wins of course and particularly on a Carnival day and for the good QTIS money. It really makes it enjoyable.”
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Hollie Roberts – July 7
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