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The race did not unfold as planned, but odds-on favourite Paparazzi still came out at the thicker end of the prizemoney much to his connections’ great relief on Sunday.
Regarded by many as the nap of the day in the $85,000 Novice race over 1200m, especially given the field of only seven runners facing the starter, Paparazzi did bring home the $9 payout to those who punted him down to short-priced favouritism, but spare a thought for their hearts in the first two-thirds of the race.
Not noted for any frontrunning inclination, Paparazzi (John Powell) landed in that spot despite an awkward jump where he turned sideways and accidentally caused Ottawa to clip heels and fall (Olivier Placais was later stood down after complaining of chest pain).
As if set alight by that early knock, Paparazzi bounded to the front but soon had a sparring partner in the shape of Charger (Michael Rodd) on his outside.It then became a case where the more Charger tried to edge forward, the more Paparazzi wanted to kick up, so much so the leading duo went asunder from the other four horses with a seven-length lead.
Trainer Shane Baertschiger later said that unexpected turn of events was giving him a bad case of the jitters back in the stand, praying hard the Snitzel four-year-old would still have something left in the tank when the chips were down - class.
That he did in emphatic fashion as the duo swung for home. Charger tried to carry through with his wear-down tactics but noticeably shortened strides when Rodd pulled the stick, while Paparazzi lengthened his – a clear sign that he had after all not exhausted all his fuel during the eye-balling match.
Paparazzi coasted to the line unchallenged to eventually rally home with five lengths to spare. From the back pack, it was Lim’s Pershing (Glen Boss) who won the battle for the minors. Though a spent force upon straightening, Charger was able to salvage third place another half-length away.
The winning time was 1min 9.97secs for the six furlongs on the Long Course.
“He was ridden upside down today but he still won very well,” said Powell.
“He turned sideways when he jumped and got bumped when the horse on the inside came out, but that bump fired him up.
“He is a very hard horse to control and with the blinkers on for the first time, he was very strong.
“I could not restrain him, but he was still going at a steady clip, though. To his credit, he is very fit and accelerated beautifully in the last 200m.
“He is a horse who is better ridden off the pace.”
A relieved Baertschiger walked down to lead in his second winner of the day after Most Favorite saluted with fewer heart palpitations earlier.
“I was panicking to be honest. I thought Charger would lead and we would settle in second, but I didn’t expect this,” said Baertschiger.
“He was so keen, but JP was still on top of things and the horse was just too good in the end.
“He wore blinkers for the first time today, but I think he will still need them in bigger fields. I will look at the programme to see what’s there for him, but no, I don’t have any big sights for him yet.”