Racing
The Astrologist wins Group 3 The Tabtouch Gold Rush: Post Race Trainer and Jockey Quotes
Trainer and jockey quotes after The Astrologist takes out the Group 3 The Tabtouch Gold Rush at Ascot on Saturday.
Race Result:1st: The Astrologist (T & L Corstens/W Pike) - $19.00
2nd: Kissonallforecheeks (D Morton/C Parnham) - $4.20
3rd: Comfort Me (R Radford/P Knuckey) - $51.00
Winning Time: 1:22.84 Last 600m: 34.84
Margins: ½ Head x L/neck
Winning Trainer: Leon & Troy Corstens (Troy on phone)
Travelling assistant Neasham Clegg's birthday: "That's a fair old birthday present for Neasham. That was fantastic. He's done an amazing job since he's been over there."
The starting price of $19: "If you watched his run in the Winterbottom, I can understand it. Everyone thought he looked a but flat but it wasn't his style and I really think where we came off today was Willie having had a ride on him and he knows (him now).
"It's easy for me to describe that the horse needs to get rolling and he loves a dog fight and that sort of stuff but I think when he saw it for himself, Willie really took that on board and just got him rolling today and that was the difference."
Good form around The Astrologist: "It is very, very hard to go to Perth and it wasn't until we ran so well in The Championships that I thought 'ok, we'll go over there and be competitive'.
"I've got a lot of admiration for the Perth horses and you can't just take a second-stringer over there and try and do your best. You've got to have a good horse to win Perth's good races.
This win means something: "It is very hard to get winners over there. When you put that good prizemoney on it is very hard to win these good races.
"He so deserved this. I was hoping he'd win a Group 1 but I'm not going to complain about the prizemoney. It is phenomenal and at the end of that day, in my opinion, it was a Group 1 field and I'd say it only going to be a year or two before it is a Group 1 in its own right.
Winning Jockey: William Pike
On getting back to winning big Perth features: "I have been lacking a bit of that over the carnival. Maybe that is just sour grapes because I haven't been winning as many as I want"
On the run: "That was what I was keen to do. I didn't want any hard luck stories - he is a wind up horse. That is his asset so I wanted to use it. He kicked off the bend really well and I knew I was in with a great sight there but just that last 50m I was hoping the line would hurry up and get there. "
On the horse: "Every time they came he found. I actually think he just did enough to keep in front. When that horse came up around me early I think that just kept him interested so everything fell into place for him. He was more settled today than he was last start. I don't know whether anything changed, he just settled in a little more, but last start he was just a bit fizzy behind the gates and he wasn't quite that same dude as he was at trackwork. Today he did everything perfect."
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