Larry Cassidy earns praise for exceptional ride to land General Exhibit

LARRY Cassidy earns near universal praise for his gutsy effort to pierce General Exhibit through a needle-eye opening to land the prize.

Larry Cassidy gets the split he was after aboard General Exhibit. Picture: Mark Calleja

THIRTY years of riding has done little to harm the nerve of Larry Cassidy, who said he was prepared to go down with the ship if General Exhibit was beaten yesterday.

Cassidy earned near universal praise for his gutsy effort to pierce the odds-on favourite through a needle-eye opening to land the prize.

"If the ship was going down I was going down with it. If I bailed out at that stage, I would have clipped heels and come down," he said.

"I knew if I could just get his ears in there he was a chance."

Cassidy had anticipated leader Rocket To Glory hanging off on the turn but the run never came.

"The leader was hanging badly the whole way and I was hoping the run would come on the turn," Cassidy said.

"But Aidan (Holt on Excellantes) held him in there, so I just had to wait. If I came back and tried to go around them something else would have come up on my outside and I would have had no chance.

"So I just had to stay in there and persist. I would have preferred it to not pan out that way, but fortunately I was able to get his head in there and he did the rest.

Larry Cassidy gets the split he was after aboard General Exhibit. Picture: Mark Calleja

"All honours to the horse. Not only did I have to have nerve, he had to show it as well."

Some felt Cassidy was "let off the hook" after his gamble to search for an inside run, but it was only when Excellantes started to tire that he was able to force the run.

Rob Heathcote praised the ride of Aidan Holt on Excellantes and said his horse just knocked up in the final part of the race.

Trainer Helen Page is keen to secure a start in the Magic Millions Cup (1400m) with General Exhibit.

"My horse has a short sharp sprint and can really accelerate," she said.

"He had to be revved up the whole way and I want to get him into a race where he can travel more comfortably.

"We thought the leader would really spread them out but they held him up."

General Exhibit has clearly returned in superb order. He ran super sectionals to very nearly gun down Rocky King first up and the step to 1200m was ideal yesterday, as he clocked a slick 1:8.81.