Despite bookmakers having Justice Honor locked in as a $31 outsider in Saturday’s TAB Highway Handicap (1500 metres) Orange trainer Michael Plummer “wasn’t surprised at all” to see his six-year-old storm down Rosehill’s straight, hitting the line superbly.
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The gelding didn’t quite salute, he simply had a little bit too much work to do to reel in eventual winner Seeblume ($8.50) after rolling through the chasing pack from the top of the straight, but there’s still no doubting how encouraging the run and second finish is.
“It was just really good, (jockey) Josh (Parr) rode him really well and he had been going pretty good leading into this one, so no, I wasn’t surprised at all,” the thrilled Orange trainer said, his charge having claimed the $13,750 second-place cheque.
“Last time around at Queanbeyan he just didn’t get around the track but we didn’t read into that one too much, he’d run really well before that (for second) at Canberra and (a win) at Narromine.
“It was just a really good day, as I said leading in he’s owned at Hawkesbury and the owners were there, they’re good days those Group 1 meetings, so they had a good day.”
Plummer said he’ll look to keep Justice Honor in the mix in the city now, he’s eyeing off another highway in a couple of weeks.
“That one’s at Randwick, and it’s around the mile-mark too which suits him so we’ll definitely look at that one. I think the Randwick track will really suit him too,” Plummer said.
“We might look to push him out a bit further after that, but he’s going well over around this distance and obviously a second finish [at Rosehill] is probably better than a win out in the country, so the obvious thing to do is keep him going in these kinds of races as long as he’s going well.”
Jumping from barrier four Parr made his intentions clear early in the run, settling toward the back of the field on the rails as Terry Robinson’s Risk And Reward set the pace early.
Plummer’s other runner Lily’s Little Girl tried to muster early and join the leaders, although the run wasn’t favourable to her and she eventually faded to finish 12th of 13.
Risk And Reward held his lead through the 600 mark as Joanne Hardy’s Lethal Dream and Wade Mathie’s Ethanicity loomed, the latter had run well until then but like Lily’s Little Girl, faded in the straight.
At the 300 mark both Seeblume, which was ridden by Winx’s usual jockey in Dunedoo’s Hugh Bowman, and Justice Honor began their push, and were both lucky enough to find a good lane through the pack.
Seeblume, trained by Joseph Ible, wound up earlier than Plummer’s gelding though and 100 out had kicked out to a two-length lead.
Justice Honor pulled that back to a single length in the dying metres, hitting the line hard in a finish that did suggest he might like a little extra distance.
“Out of the two of them he got all the luck, for sure, Lily’s Little Girl didn’t get much at all,” Plummer said of his two runners.