04/05/2011  Happy Valley  Race 5

SHINING TRIUMPH was withdrawn on 3.5.11 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (inappetance) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter MY TIME (Apprentice T H So). Before being allowed to race again, SHINING TRIUMPH will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. GURUS DREAM and MEGA CHAMPION were slow to begin. After being ridden along in the early stages, MY TIME got its head on the side and hung in after the 1100 Metres. Passing the 400 Metres, SUPER PLUS was steadied when racing in restricted room between WITHINMYHEART and BET ON ME which shifted in slightly. Near the 150 Metres, WITHINMYHEART was shifted out away from the heels of OCEAN WIDE to continue improving. When questioned, M Du Plessis stated that he had been instructed to lead on BET ON ME if possible. He said after riding the horse positively in the early stages, BET ON ME was in a position three wide outside FREE AND EASY which had OCEAN WIDE racing to its inside passing the 1000 Metres. He said he continued to allow BET ON ME to improve its position, however, FREE AND EASY also improved its position underneath BET ON ME which resulted in him being unable to cross to a position closer to the fence. He said he continued to allow BET ON ME to stride along in the hope that FREE AND EASY would be steadied by its rider, however, that horse continued to maintain its position and as the tempo of the race in the early and middle stages, in his opinion, was good, he was reluctant to continue to ride BET ON ME along to obtain the outright lead. He added after the 800 Metres he steadied BET ON ME in an attempt to obtain a position behind FREE AND EASY, however, BET ON ME proved difficult to steady at this time. He said this resulted in BET ON ME travelling wide and without cover for the majority of the race. A veterinary inspection of NEW GLORY and FREE AND EASY after the race did not show any significant findings. TIME AFTER TIME and GURUS DREAM were sent for sampling.