Big Spirit Bounces Back
- Saturday, 31 July 2010 04:47
Big Spirit returned to the winners’ enclosure for the second time this month after winning the $70,000 Pin & Win for Epilepsy Handicap (1200m) for three-year-old fillies at Caulfield on Saturday.
Winning at Flemington down the straight over 1000 metres on July 10, Big Spirit raced again the following week against fillies and mares and finished seventh, beaten over four lengths from Tonic at Caulfield.
This afternoon Jake Noonan rated Big Spirit in the lead to perfection from barrier 12, with the filly pinching enough of a break in the early portion of the straight to win ahead of the fast finishing pair of Lucy’s Cash and Sona Gaire.
Big Spirit ($4.60-$7) defeated Lucy’s Cash ($4.40-$6) by a half neck with Sona Gaire ($12-$13) a further head away in third.
Bluey’s Mist ($26) enjoyed a cosy run in transit on the rails and stuck on well for fourth while Music In The Park ($6-$4.60-$4.80) was the best of the rest, finishing fifth
“That’s about her fourteenth run this season, so she’s been a wonderfully consistent filly,” Hore-Lacy said.
“We don’t do much with her between runs, we just take her to the races.”
Hore-Lacy said the key to her defeat last start and victory today was her quick start out of the barriers.
“She was slow out and had to be hacked up to get outside the leader.”
“Once we had done that she overraced and ran herself into the ground.
“Today she won the start quite clearly and got to the lead, the inside is important on days like this and the rest is history,” he added.
Noonan, who rode Big Spirit for the first time last start, conceded that his ride wasn’t the best last start.
“I probably made the wrong decision on her last start, when I just tried to hold her up she wanted to fight me the whole time,” Noonan said.
“Today she jumped really well, half a length in front of them.
“I was going to elect to sit outside the leader and I knew from then she’d probably over-race so I elected to let her stride forward and get there under her own steam,” he added.
Big Spirit is by Invincible Spirit out of the dam Big Sky Montana who produced multiple stakes winner Dantana. She is likely to have her next run at the same venue in the $125,000 Group 3 Cockram Stakes (1200m) for mares on August 14.
Boasting a record of six wins and five placings from 17 starts, Big Spirit has accumulated $267,980.
Pictures: Fiona Tomlin
