A Pandemonia-filled start to a winning finish
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Time a winner…The winning duo Leeanne Mc Coy and Man Servant stroll to victory (3 Way Photos)
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The Liam Birchley-trained Pandemonia came from a shaky start to win his debut run at Eagle Farm on Saturday, February 16 in the Girl’s Day Out 1st March QTIS 2YO Handicap 1000m.
Ridden by Shane Scriven at the back of the field, his chance came when they got to the outside around the bend and dashed to meet the leaders at the 100m. Pandemonia (G2 Sequalo-Graphic Bella) managed to keep in front of second placegetter Phebetay (Lacey Morrison) by a long neck. $2.90 race favourite Acorns (Jason Taylor) followed home third by two and a quarter lengths.
Birchley was confident that the gelding had a win in him, but the horse’s immaturity worried him. “Ability-wise I did, but he’s just so mentally immature it’s hard to know what to expect sometimes. I was definitely confident in his ability for sure.”
“He was a little bit new going at the gates. There was a bit of commotion in the birdcage, one got away and then another one started bucking. It upset him and stirred him up a bit so he was a little bit on edge heading down there, which I was a little bit worried about. But he got down there safe enough.
“He’s sort of about six months behind in the brain. His brain’s behind his body so we’ve just been careful not to sort of rev him up too much. I told Shane I’d rather him get beaten run home than be up there charging three or four wide and learn nothing. So he was quite quiet on coming out of the gates, just let him find his feet. He got to the line, probably got to the front a bit too quick, it ended up being okay anyway.
“It was always the plan to come out quietly. Let him find his feet and not rev him up too much,” Birchley said.
Purchased at Magic Millions Sales for $35,000, Pandemonia picked up $32,000 plus a $21,000 QTIS bonus for his maiden win.
As for plans for the gelding, Birchley is still deciding, “I’m not 100 per cent sure yet. It’s possible we might just give him an easy week and maybe look at the Surfside 1000m at the Gold Coast. Because he’s Magic Millions it mightn’t do him any harm to have a run on the track before the race so that’s the way I’m thinking at the moment.”
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Hollie Roberts – January 18
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