Another well-rated frontrunning ride from jockey John Powell saw honest sprinter Von Krumm fend off all comers to claim the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1200m on Friday.
The Snitzel five-year-old scored his only two previous wins (both recorded last year) by leading. After waiting tactics were tried on him this year, the results have been below expectations, but a switch back to his good old ways finally saw him bounce back to the winner’s stall.
Sent straight to the lead by jockey John Powell, Von Krumm went on to carve up moderate sectionals to the race to swing for home as the one to run down.
With a gaggle of horses led by Gato Negro (Oscar Chavez) finishing hard across the track, not many would have bet on Von Krumm hanging on to his seemingly untenable advantage.
But Powell had actually not pushed the button yet. Once he did, Von Krumm found a second wind, which Gato Negro battled to find an answer to. Divided House (Corey Brown) looked like she would have better luck as she stormed home on the outside, but she also came up short.
In the end, Von Krumm outlasted them to score by half-a-length from Divided House with Gato Negro third another head away. The winning time was 1min 10.16secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
Powell played down his part in the win, or all the high praises about him having a “clock in his head”, saying the gelding won on his own merit.
“I didn’t have to press him to go forward. He landed in front quite easily,” said the Australian jockey.
“I was lucky I had a soft lead on him, and even when the other horse (Gato Negro) came to him, I didn’t have to go to him.
“I waited for as long as I could. I thought a horse would come on the outside to get us, but he just kept rolling. He had the right run and everything suited him tonight.”
Winning trainer Shane Baertschiger said the gelding’s forte resided in getting his own way in front, and he sure had all his ducks in a row on Friday.
“There was no speed on paper and that’s the best way to ride him. At his last start, (Manoel) Nunes (on Viviano) went for the same gap he was going for, and he got checked,” said Baertschiger.
“Tonight, he was able to dictate, stacked up the speed, waited and waited, and when JP went for him, he held them off quite well.”
Without taking anything from the gutsy victory, other trainers and jockeys may beg to differ, though, as there was no shortage of hard-luck stories in the race.
While Von Krumm minded his own business hard up against the rails, with Gato Negro and Red Dawn (Matthew Kellady) racing tight on his offside, they did not leave much galloping room for favourite Castor (Troy See), Justice Day (Danny Beasley) and Ode To Joy (Barend Vorster), who were hemmed in in traffic behind, desperately looking for a gap to dash through.
In the end, Justice Day got out of jail when it was all over, to settle for fourth place, a short head away from Gato Negro while on the fence, Ode To Joy could not be ridden out and did well to finish only half-a-length away in sixth, split by Sun Pioneer (Wong Chin Chuen) in fifth.
As for Castor, it is true he ran into dead ends at the 400m, but he also faded quickly to beat two home, an indication he might not have found the line even if he had enjoyed a clear uninterrupted run.
