Jockey Matthew Kellady made the most of his good fortune in picking up a last-minute ride aboard High Council by leading from barrier to box in the $60,000 Panasonic Conquest Stakes race, a Class 4 Division 2 race over 1400m on Sunday.
Newly-licensed Australian jockey Timothy Bell was originally penned down to ride the Steven Burridge-trained gelding at his debut meeting, but due to paperwork delays, he could not fulfill his bookings and Kellady was approached to replace him atop High Council.
Unlike earlier in Race 5, where his familiarity with Von Krumm helped him score, High Council was unknown quantity to Kellady and he had to depend on advice from fellow jockey Michael Rodd, High Council's last-start partner, for a much-needed crash course on the High Chaparral four-year-old.
“I was only asked by Steven today between race 3 and 4 if I wanted the ride,” said Kellady.
“I didn’t know anything about the horse and I had to ask Michael who rode him the last time. He explained that the horse had a bit of an attitude.
“Before the race, Steven told me to jump as well as I could and if there was another faster horse, to let him lead. If not, we could lead.”
High Council ($42) was actually able to roll forward, with Natural Nice (Alan Munro) and $14 favourite Groenewegen (Michael Rodd) in close attendance. Rounding the home turn, he still held sway until Groenewegen and Natural Nice started to cut the margin back on him.
Groenewegen on the outside looked to be coasting as Rodd brought him out in the clear, but the colt again failed to deal the final blow like at his last run, shortening up to leave High Council to score by half a length, even conceding second spot by a neck to Natural Nice. The winning time was 1min 23.05secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
Kellady felt High Council had a lot more to give and would be better after he gets over his greenness.
“When we hit the front, he was running in and out,” he said. “There was no chance they would catch him when he hit top gear, but, mentally, he was not quite there yet. I am sure he will get better with time, though.”
Burridge said that a set of blinkers helped turn that rawness into a win, which came as an early birthday present for his owner, prominent liver surgeon Dr Tan Kai Chah.
“He was disappointing at his last run, when he was reluctant to go forward,” said Burridge.
“But we put blinkers on him today and it looked like it helped him run a more forward race.
“Tomorrow is Dr Tan’s birthday and it was nice to be able to win this race as a nice present for him.
“We will keep him (High Council) at this level until he shows more consistency before we decide on anything.”
