A Bumpy Ride For Nash
- Tuesday, 05 November 2013 01:13
Nash Rawiller will long remember his ride on Opinion at Flemington on Cup Day which saw him lose his riding irons while jumping out of the barrier.
Nash Rawiller trying to pull up Opinion
Contesting the 2800m Carnival Handicap, Rawiller found it impossible to control the hard pulling Irish bred stayer so he bravely tried to go round the field and somehow compete in the race where his mount was a well backed favourite.
The effort proved impossible however and Rawiller was forced to ease Opinion before the home turn before coming home a very long last.
In the meantime, Stephen Baster aboard Mujadale ($14-$15) was enjoying a lovely even paced run in the lead and the superbly fit stayer led virtually throughout to win by 2½ lengths from Like A Carousel ($41-$51) with a length to Caravan Rolls On ($7-$8) which came from last.
Mujadale wins the Carnival Handicap
Winning trainer Paul Jones could see that Opinion was a bit out of control and was concerned that he would distract Mujadale and get him fired up.
"I was a bit worried when I saw him come up and start to eyeball us and he did get on the bridle a bit as he went past but luckily he settled back down and got his composure again."
Baster also had his concerns, not only for his mount but also for Rawiller.
"I was in two minds. I was happy because he was one of the favourites, obviously I was hoping Nash was OK, but I didn't want him to annoy my horse but to my horses' credit he switched off and didn't worry about him."
Mujadale
Jones has trained Mujadale to win 8 of his 26 starts being placed on another 5 occasions.
"He just loves to run", Jones said.
"Initially in his first few races he wasn't so much a racehorse, he was a bit like Forest Gump he just went out and ran and he still is a bit like that but he is a bit more seasoned now."
"He is a free-running style of horse and he is very tough and gritty."
Ten days ago Jones put Mujadale to his biggest test yet when he ran a creditable sixth in the Moonee Valley Cup on Cox Plate day.
"Every time we've asked him to step up he has, apart from last week because he did get very overawed at the Valley on the big day and he just didn't handle it mentally."
"We checked him out on the Tuesday and he was fine, his blood was good and physically he was fine so we thought we'd press on and this looked like a good race for him."
Stephen Baster returns to scale on Mujadale
Baster was aboard Mujadale at Moonee Valley, the only time he has not won on the horse.
"He got a little bit revved up last start and over raced a bit so he brought himself undone but today he just lobbed along nice and was strong to the line."
"Paul has done a great job with him and I've ridden him now for four starts and three wins and he's been in perfect order every time I've ridden him."
Jones who has a small team in work at Stawell was thrilled to win a race on Cup Day.
"It's a great time to be racing in the spring time and I'm just fortunate enough to have a horse good enough to be here on the day", he said.
Jones will look for another staying test for Mujadale which should be competitive in anything he tries over a distance.
"We'll just see how he pulls up because there's not a lot coming up but we might look at Sandown (at Caulfield) with the 3200m there to see if he runs that sort of trip", Jones said.
Photos: Quentin Lang, Fiona Tomlin
