Slow track downgrade a punters’ nightmare at Ipswich

STEWARDS were slow to downgrade the track on Saturday after going up a Good 4. Riders suggested early on that it was worse than that.

A good crowd rolled up for Saturday’s Ipswich Cup meeting. Picture: Liam Kidston

STEWARDS were slow to downgrade the track on Saturday after going up with a Good 4. Riders suggested early on that it was worse than that.

Jeff Lloyd said it was racing like a Soft 6 after running third on Sir Donald, who he felt would have won if the rail had not been a no-go zone early. Sir Donald’s trainer Michael Nolan knew stablemate Upstart Pride was out of play from that point, as he is not effective on rain-affected ground.

The track levelled out later on after more traffic had raced on the better section of the track.

Up the creek: After a winning double put him within striking distance of the lead, James Orman’s hopes of winning the metropolitan premiership as an apprentice were dealt a savage blow by stewards, who suspended him for 11 days for his ride on Kobi Creek, where he shifted out and pushed Jim Byrne (All Clear) wider on the track. Orman pleaded not guilty. “He didn’t check. I would call it competitive riding,” Orman said. Chairman of stewards Martin Knibbs disagreed. “There’s a line between competitive and careless. If we had push and shove like that in every race we would have a lot more jockeys on the deck,’’ he said. “We encourage competitive riding but there’s a line that has to be drawn.’’ Stewards discounted Orman’s sentence by two days owing to the fact he had gone 1077 rides without a suspension.

More please: Most regarded Maurus as the most impressive Ipswich Cup winner since Sphenophyta in 2006. That horse went on to win a Group 1 in Melbourne. Damian Browne feels Maurus is also up to winning better races. “I rode the third horse (It’s Somewhat) in the Doomben Cup and this is a better horse than him for sure,’’ Browne said. “He has a real sharp turn of foot and, in fact, he caught me a bit unaware how quick he went.’’

Damian Browne was impressed by Maurus’s turn of foot in the Ipswich Cup. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Sting: Punters who joined the plonk on Outraged can consider themselves stiff. He was the best-backed runner around Australia on Saturday morning, firming from $8 to $3.60. Damian Browne rated him a good thing beaten. “From the 1000m I was yelling at them to get going because we were too far off them,” he said. “Halfway up the straight I thought I was going to get the winner easily, but nothing had taken me into the race and I had to do it all myself.’’

Pixels: Tegan Harrison admitted after seeing the replay, she thought she might have been beaten on Alassak. It seemed to many that Happy Event had lobbed but despite the delay to correct weight, with John Zielke keen to view the photo, the print showed a clear margin to Alassak.

Drought breakers: It was a day for long-term losers at Ipswich with Blueberry Hill (406 days) joining Londehero (826), Amexed (770) and Ninth Legion (511) to claim their first victories in over a year.

Originally published as Slow track downgrade a punters’ nightmare at Ipswich