High Noon puts rivals in the shade

Michael Lee
Friday, December 11, 2009

The race had been tagged as a close contest among at least five runners, but at the end of the mile journey of Friday’s $75,000 Progress race, there was little evidence of a showdown, as a far more superior High Noon ended up shooting his rivals to pieces.

Though the former Perth galloper (then known as Scenic Link), now prepared by Steven Burridge, was nudged out of favouritism ($17) by Patrick Shaw’s new Irish import My Drumbeat ($16), he was clearly the horse to beat, though the undefeated Any Takers, Daad’s The Way and Smart General were also dangerous candidates.

Under a copybook ride by Vlad Duric, High Noon, who was ahead of only King Of Sheba from barrier rise, soon looked unstoppable as he started to circle the field from the 800m marker.

High Noon (Vlad Duric) is home and hosed in Race 4.

The momentum was clearly in his favour as he whooshed to the lead in one fell swoop, though he was inclined to hang in the moment he hit the front. Duric just got the Scenic four-year-old to scrape paint as he coasted home an impressive 2 ¾-length winner ahead of Daad’s The Way (Benny Woodworth) with Ace Alphabet (Joao Moreira) running third another neck away.

High Noon was at his fourth win from seven starts for prizemoney past the $160,000 mark for the Hydrocarbon Stable. The winning time was 1min 40.2 secs.

“He quickened up very good though he was hanging in a bit in the end,” said Burridge.

“He’s a very good horse, though he pulls a little in his races. He’s done a fantastic job winning three in a row and you can’t ask anymore from what he’s done.

“He’s earned a break of three to four weeks now and we’ll bring him back for the Four-Year-Old series next year.”

The Four-Year-Old Challenge for the 2010 season has been revamped to comprise the Stewards’ Cup (1400m), Patrons’ Bowl (1600m) and the Singapore Derby (2000m).

“He’s by Scenic. He should be able to see out 2000m, though he’s only run a third over 1800m in Perth,” said Burridge.

“But I think he’s shown he’s a very good horse and he should be able to measure up.”

Duric, who did the steering job after Saimee Jumaat, High Noon’s winning partner at his treble of wins, had been sidelined through suspension, described High Noon as a “serious horse”.

“He got a bit upset around the first corner, but he then settled quite well at the rear,” said Duric.

“But once he got going, he had them covered from a long way. He definitely is showing all the signs of a very serious horse.”