As Excel Stride attacks leader Mach Beauty in a 26.7, second quarter, For A Reason sits back and let's go round the turn to win by 20m in a fantastic 1:50 flat!
Good to see him run such a time and let's hope he can repeat such an effort.
Further to my thread entitled 'Lauren Panella' from last week, this time we had the roles reversed and Lukey doing the attacking in 26 quarters carving up the $1.20 favourite driven by Panella. Was always going to happen after the job Panella did on him last week went unpunished!
Hey Jeff. Watched a replay of the race and i dont think anything Luke did was payback. I doubt when you have horses of this quality they worry about playing games. The last thing they would want to do is flatten there horses when they have so many big races coming up in the next few weeks. Go watch the race again and i think you will see Lukes horses started to over race down the back straight. Nothing more then that.
Ummm.....yeah....Excel Stride always pulls in it's races and Luke regularly has trouble holding horses lol
Well obviously Excel Stride really wanted to go and Luke being the experienced driver knew that it was too early for that. Remember Luke is not a superhuman, he doesn't have the strength of ten men.
I think there is a groundswell of people within the industry that have had a gutful of Lauren and her belief that the front is hers and look out if you think its not. I understand why she has this attitude as 90% of her winners lead and when she drives one of the pace her win percentage is far inferior.
I don't know if thats partularly true or not but for sake of my post, lets just say its true. It's a good tactic to employ. Might ruin a few horses chance here and there because would have been better off handing up. But if Lauren, or any driver, gets a reputation for holding the front at all costs, it can very well pay dividends in the future with getting soft leads and/or left alone in front.Originally Posted by Pena
(note: vested interest as Lauren regularly drives my horses and led/won on my horse on Saturday @ Menangle)
The lead clearly is a prized position, but it is not pre-determined. If others want the lead, have the gate speed and the ability to back it up at the end of a race, then it is equally theirs for the taking.
Lauren (or anyone) handing up on a $1.70 favourite over a mile that has done all of its best racing in front would be more of an issue. My horse led and won from gate 2 and had to contest for the lead early-on but backed it up by holding on at the finishing post - if she hadn't had fought for the lead, it would be a different story. I can understand your point Jack, if Lauren was leading at all costs and the horse's compounding most of the time then I would expect people to be very frustrated. But I think she is weighing up the horse's ability and delivering at a decent strike rate which suggests she is employing the right tactics for the right horses more often than not.
In my (uneducated) opinion, the unfortunate over-racing of Excel Stride taints the great effort of For A Reason's win in 1.50 - but F.A.R's performance means he probably would have won regardless of the tactics intentionally or unintentionally employed by anyone in the race.
Thanku Sofoulis,
"In my (uneducated) opinion, the unfortunate over-racing of Excel Stride taints the great effort of For A Reason's win in 1.50 - but F.A.R's performance means he probably would have won regardless of the tactics intentionally or unintentionally employed by anyone in the race."
This thread was created about For A Reason not Lauren or her driving tactics or Luke wanting the lead, its to celebrate a former great juvenile fighting back to some glory at an older age and how that is good for racing and our sport...
If you want to talk about Lauren then as Scabscat mentioned, he has a whole thread dedicated to her, out of about 7 posts in this thread not one person until Sofoulis actually mentioned FAR...
So does anyone apart from Sofoulis have anyone anything to say about him???
Yes, well.....For A Reason would have finished in the same place it settled(3 pegs) if the leaders weren't carving out 26 quarters up front, the same as Mister Presley would have finished back with the cap catchers the week before if Panella didn't serve it up to the leader. Im looking forward to some great battles between these two leading stables over the next few months, and a few more Steven Bradbury moments when they do......
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