15/01/2014  Happy Valley  Race 5

FANTASTICO was checked at the start when crowded for room between TOPSPIN EXPRESS which was taken out by BRAVENESS which got its head on the side and shifted out and ST YAZIN which was taken in by BRILLIANT PROPOSAL which shifted ground after initially bumping TOUCH GO. PENIAPHOBIA began awkwardly. TANGO FIRE and EASTERN PROMISE bumped at the start. From the outside barrier, ROMAN WIN was taken across behind runners shortly after the start. In the early part of the Straight, BRILLIANT PROPOSAL got its head on the side and lay in. For the majority of the race, PENIAPHOBIA travelled wide and without cover. Z Purton (ST YAZIN) reported that passing the 800 Metres his mount became badly unbalanced in its action and blundered for no apparent reason. He said as he was concerned that the horse had gone amiss, he immediately steadied it, however, after travelling only a short distance ST YAZIN balanced up and then commenced to stride out more comfortably. He said after this he placed ST YAZIN under pressure and the horse was able to close off the race strongly and he did not have any more concern regarding its action. A veterinary inspection of ST YAZIN immediately following the race did not show any significant findings, however, the horse was unable to be scoped due to being fractious. When questioned regarding the improved performance of BRAVENESS, Trainer C Fownes stated that the horse, which had a knee surgery in March 2013, had disappointed him in its two most recent starts after racing well on 6 November 2013. He said because of the horse’s disappointing runs, he had it treated after its most recent start. He said, in his opinion, BRAVENESS had benefited from this treatment and had been able to let down tonight which it had not been doing in its most recent races. After the race, an endoscopic examination was conducted on TOPSPIN EXPRESS at the request of Trainer A T Millard. The Veterinary Surgeon said this examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse's trachea. Before being allowed to race again, TOPSPIN EXPRESS will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. FANTASTICO, BRAVENESS and BRILLIANT PROPOSAL were sent for sampling.