Horse, rider share a steely Gaze
IF courage and determination is needed to win the Melbourne Cup tomorrow, then this race is over – they should just hand the trophy to Single Gaze’s connections and her jockey Kathy O’Hara.
Because both horse and rider have shown plenty of those essential traits since that day at Randwick in April last year when they endured a spectacular home turn crash in the Oaks. O’Hara was knocked out momentarily and also suffered a punctured lung, broken collarbone and ribs.
The Gold Coast-owned, Canberra-trained Single Gaze had no broken bones but she was battered and bruised, her confidence dented.
But time has been a great healer. O’Hara was supposed to be out of riding for six months at least. She was back in the saddle in six weeks. Single Gaze needed a long spell which trainer Nick Olive believes, in hindsight, has been the makings of the mare.
At Flemington tomorrow, Single Gaze and O’Hara team up again in the $6 million Melbourne Cup (3200m).
This is a story of persistence, of defying the odds, about heart and grit, and selfbelief.
Single Gaze doesn’t look like a Melbourne Cup hope. She barely stands 15.2 hands and weighs under 430kg. She is the smallest horse in the Cup field – by a long way.
O’Hara could be on the catwalk but she is more at home in the saddle.
She is the only female jockey with a ride in the Cup. But looks can be deceiving.
Horse and rider are a lot tougher than you think.
If you don’t believe me, look at a replay of the Caulfield Cup.
Single Gaze was under hard riding from O’Hara at the 800m and looked a beaten horse on the home turn.
At the 100m mark, they were still in front then Boom Time found the fast lane near the inside and dived through to relegate the brave mare to second placing.
It was that run, when Single Gaze responded to extreme pressure, that convinced O’Hara and OIive that the mare can run a strong 3200m in the Melbourne Cup.
“I can’t tell you how many
people tell me she looks beaten in her races,’’ O’Hara said of Single Gaze.
“But that is her, the thing is she never really travels but she is so determined. She might get off the bridle but that doesn’t mean she won’t find under pressure.
“In the Melbourne Cup, we can ride her differently to the Caulfield Cup.
“I will try to get her to fall ‘asleep’ early in the race. I don’t need to ride her so close to the lead as it is a bigger track and a different race tempo to Caulfield.
“She has the grounding for the Melbourne Cup, she has the miles in her legs – I’m confident she will run the trip.’’
OIive, who has grown accustomed to the critics questioning his mare, has also dismissed stamina concerns about Single Gaze.
“I’m pretty sure she will run it,’’ Olive said of the Cup’s 3200m stamina test.
“She can just roll with them for a long way in the race. Kathy is right, we can’t see the mare having as hard a run as she had in the Caulfield Cup.
“Under the circumstances, it was a herculean run that day. I was so proud of her, the way she put in but we know she has got that type of effort in her.
“Her greatest asset is she can be off the bit a long way from home but she will find the line. She just responds, you know she will keep fighting hard – that’s just her.’’
Olive did admit Single Gaze’s Caulfield Cup effort took a bit out of the mare.
“She knew she had a hard run,’’ the trainer said. “But she bounced back quickly and hasn’t left a grain since. She is great, no ‘war wounds’ and came through the race well.
“I’d have to say I believe she is going better into the Melbourne Cup than she was before the Caulfield Cup.’’