Black type racing on the horizon for Essence Of Terror
TRAINER Simon Zahra believes black-type races are within Essence Of Terror’s grasp after a first-up second in the Ladbrokes 55-Second Challenge at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
Jumping from the outside stall, jockey Chris Symonds had no option but to force the issue on Essence Of Terror, taking the horse four and five wide into the straight. The horse responded well but could not bridge the gap on the eventual winner Mile High ($4.40 at William Hill), which surged strongly to the line.
Zahra believes a better barrier draw would have since his elect take out the race.
“Probably the barrier beat her I reckon,” Zahra told HorseBetting.com.au.
What a run ESSENCE OF TERROR!! Should have just about won!!
— Alicia (@palmer_alicia) October 27, 2017
“We had to go early and the horse wasn’t taken into the race, had to really push to get into the race and probably peaked on her run around 50m out.”
Despite Zahra’s disappointment, Essence Of Terror maintained its excellent first-up record, taking it to one win and two second-placed finishes from five attempts.
The trainer lamented the lack of cover the horse received in the run.
“There was nothing taking her into the race,” he said.
“It’s been leader dominated, the 1000m race the one before this one the leader won, so tonight was a huge effort.
“The horse is flying at the moment so the barrier probably beat her to be honest.”
There has been no shortage of wins in Essence Of Terror’s career, with the five-year-old mare winning four of its 21 starts.
The win prior to being turned out in a benchmark 84 race for the mares was the pinnacle of the horse’s career thus far, and Zahra is predicting the horse can progress even further than that.
“We’ll find something over the spring for her.
“She’s definitely a black-type sort of horse, so we’ll have a crack at it.
“We’ll find something up the straight for her and see if we can’t crack a black-type with her.”