THE BIG GEE REVIEW
Full of excitement as if she had won the Ramornie Handicap again with The Big Goodbye, Leah Kilner declared “That was the best fifth placing I have seen in a long time.”
That was an honest opinion from Leah after your 7-time winner returned with a flashing fifth last Saturday in the Swiss Ace at the Sunshine Coast.
Officially, if you just look at the results they read The Big Goodbye finishing 3 lengths behind the Tony Gollan-trained Nettuno, with some pretty good horses in the placings – Shooting For Gold, EF Troop, Zoustyle while Prince of Boom finished last.
STEWARDS REPLAY TELLS THE STORY
Now it’s easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment directly after a race, but it’s hard to disagree with Leah particularly after you watch the Stewards’ replay.
The Big Gee was run off his feet early and found himself in the very unfamiliar position of 9th with about 600m remaining.
But then it all seemed to click and your boy picked up beautifully under jockey Michael Rodd sneaking up on the fence but found himself with nowhere to go.
“I just had horses tiring in front of me, if I could have had a proper crack at them we would have made it very interesting.”
“Barrier 1 can be your best friend or your biggest enemy, it was our biggest enemy today but he hit the line great and he has obviously come back really well and looking forward to getting him up to 1200m,” Jockey Michael Rodd said.
Watch the Stewards Replay of The Big Goodbye.
“We are in for a huge prep guys” QLD Rogues Ambassador Leah Kilner
NOWHERE TO GO
It’s important to keep in mind that The Big Goodbye went into the race without an official barrier trial so he will improve dramatically from that performance.
“As Michael said they went so hard up front, and he was struggling to be on the bit, I actually thought oh no we could be in a bit of trouble here.”
“But as The Big Goodbye does he just kept coming and coming and coming and had he got a bit of room, I think he would have made it very interesting.”
“We are in for a huge prep guys,” Leah said.
WHAT’S NEXT
Rob is sticking to his early schedule for The Big Gee.
The Rogues warhorse should be primed for the Group 3 George Moore on December 2 at Doomben which again will be a hot field, but that’s the level your horse is now at there are no easy targets.
After that it may be back to Eagle Farm for the Favelon Stakes on December 23 at Eagle Farm
What a Summer Carnival for the Rogues.