The Jackal wins again
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Larry Cassidy manoeuvres “machine” The Jackal to the winning spot
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If the feature race at Eagle Farm on Saturday, February 13 was a State of Origin battle, Queensland would have come off the worst in the final result.
New South Wales-trained horses crossed first through fifth leaving the Queenslanders to trail in the results.
The victor in the $75,000 Rankins on the Mall Handicap 1200m was the Tamworth-trained The Jackal who had enough in reserve to take the win for owner and trainer Paul St Vincent.
Larry Cassidy had the reins as they jumped from the outside barrier. They cruised around the outside and slowly regained a front position as the field ran at a slow pace.
In the straight he battled with the Coffs Harbour-trained Nuclear Medicine (Glen Colless) and hit the front to win by a neck.
Fellow Tamworth starter Ollie Vollie (Timothy Bell) started the race as $3 favourite but finished third by three quarters of a length.
“Everything went to plan,” said St Vincent. “We were going to just ride him the way we normally do and he jumped out nice. Then a couple of the others didn’t want to go. He (Cassidy) would’ve had to snag him back to get in behind him.
“I said don’t go backwards whatever you do Larry. If you jump and you’re last, good but if you get up and you’re in front of some don’t drag him back in behind them.
“I said he’s the best horse in the race by a long way so if you’re there, ride him with aggression. The horse raced with aggression. He just wanted to race. He travelled four deep but it wasn’t that bad because he was travelling well and truly within himself. In saying that, you’ve still got to travel more ground.”
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Paul St Vincent with The Jackal after their Eagle Farm win (Noel Pascoe photos)
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The Sunshine State has been a good hunting ground for The Jackal (G7 Bite the Bullet USA-Positive Surprise). It was where he picked up his first and half of his six Black Type wins. The latest win became his 13th and brought his prizemoney to a touch under $920,000.
“Well he just loves a big flat track,” explained St Vincent. “He loves Eagle Farm, he loves Rosehill, in preference to the smaller version like Doomben…I don’t think he’s overly fussed in Randwick where it rises.”
The topweight of 59.5kg didn’t impact The Jackal. “He handled all that well,” said St Vincent. It didn’t worry the rest of the placegetters either as the first four who carried more than the minimum weight of 53kg finished in their number order.
The blinkers were back on the gelding for the Eagle Farm run. “I worked him here (Tamworth) during the week and I put them back on and it sort of sharpened him right up again,” said his trainer.
“He went without them and all of a sudden we put them back on and he really got switched on. My son Kane, who rides him in all his work, said they’ll have to go back on. I said righto.
“We’ve had them off before for one run and we realised we’ve got to put them back on. Same thing happened again. He just has to have them by the look of it.”
St Vincent is always pleased to return north for further races with The Jackal and no doubt he’d be content to leg up Cassidy for another run.
“Larry was very happy with the run,” he said.
“He said he felt good. Larry reckons he’s a machine. He’s had a couple of wins on him up there.
“We’ve just got to see where we go next. The reason we were in Brisbane is purely because of the track surface. He’s got to be on a dry track. I had him nominated for Randwick too but it was wet so there was no point in going that way. We pulled the right rein. I love the place.”
QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Hollie Roberts – February 15
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