As the greatest athletes in the world were preparing for the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, the Vic Husslers celebrated their own Olympic moment when Pardon My French careered away for a super impressive win at Geelong last Friday.
Okay, it’s fair to say they don’t hand out Olympic medals for a Friday meeting at Geelong but this was a performance of a horse that is going places and will be better when she gets over more ground.
PARDON MY FRENCH DESERVED THAT WIN
It’s easy to sit back and say that a horse deserved to break through for a win, but even the most harsh critic would concede that Pardon My French has been unlucky in her two career starts, albeit, running two good thirds.
To be fair, she did have barrier 1 on debut at Moe when third on June 6 and at her second start at Wangaratta on July 6, she drew wide and got back to near last on the corner before sneaking up on the fence for another “watch me next time” third.
So after a couple more wide barriers and unsuitable race scratchings, Ciaron Maher and his team said let’s go and break this maiden at Geelong over 1247m – and that’s exactly what she did.
POWERFUL EFFORT
Originally drawing barrier 10, but with a couple of scratchings including the original favourite Inez, Pardon My French came into gate 8 at Geelong.
She began well, but through no fault of jockey Ben Allen got stuck three deep with no cover but travelled comfortably and blew them away.
“It didn’t really pan out how I thought once we left the barriers and there wasn’t as much speed from outside as I thought.
“But the way the track is, it is quite tired (worn) down the inside, so I wasn’t too fazed to be stuck wide and I thought I may as well sit in my own spot and they didn’t go too quick so that sort of suited us.
“It did take her a little bit to find her feet when she came off the bridle, but late and through the line she was super.
“You’ll have a lot of fun with her,” jockey Ben Allen said post the win.
WHATS NEXT
To their credit the Vic Husslers have been extremely patient with Pardon My French. She was slow to mature and when she was ready to go bone chips were discovered in both her knees and another long spell was needed.
Even now she feels her runs a bit and Ciaron and the team are mindful of giving her plenty of time between runs just as a precaution.
“Congratulations on the win of Pardon My French everyone.
“Ben Allen gave her a good steer and in the end she won that race by over 3 lengths which is a nice way to break your Maiden status. We knew she was going well so it was nice to see that transfer to the track and into a win.
“She does feel her runs so she will spend some time down at the beach and have a nice time in the water.
“The race options we are looking at are Bendigo on August 18 there’s a BM 64 1300m and we’ve earmarked some other races Sandown on the 21st and also Sale on the 22nd.
“As always we like to see how the fields come up before making any final calls,” Ciaron Maher racing manager Reece Murphy said.
Ben Allen gave her a good steer and in the end she won that race by over 3 lengths ” Racing Manager Reece Murphy
VIC’s TO WIN THE $10,000 CASH
Pardon My French will also be remembered as the horse that delivered the Vic Husslers their first $10,000 Cash monthly win.
While the Vic’s have had a lot of runners over recent months they just haven’t been able to accumulate enough prize money to topple the NSW Tycoons in Month 8 and the Qld Rogues in Month 7.
With only a couple of days remaining in the month, the Tycoons could have caused a boilover if Sidenay won at Muswellbrook but he was scratched due to the Heavy 10 track.
Well done to the Husslers and may there be many more monthly $10,000 wins.
