By Mike Dillon
Dave O'Sullivan graciously tried to give Australian trainer Paul Perry the dress horse rug after yesterday's $250,000 Railway Handicap.
Perry, just as graciously, refused.
The 49-year-old Newcastle trainer was experiencing the worst moment of his racing career - winning and losing a group one race can give horse trainers nightmares for life.
And Perry did not believe his class mare Dantelah deserved to be relegated from first to second in New Zealand's premier sprint.
He and his owners were trying desparately not to let their crushing disappointment spill over and were doing a wonderful job.
Sweat soaked the neckline of Perry's suit jacket as he waited for the judicial decision outside the inquiry room.
Words came tightly. "At home I reckon there wouldn't even be an inquiry. Would there?"
"No," said his rider Damien Oliver, looking slightly calmer, but then Oliver wouldn't stress out in a sandstorm.
The inquiry, initiated by the stipendiary stewards, centred on whether Dantelah denied runner-up Bawalaksana racing room when Bawalaksana was racing between the leader Samboa and Dantelah at the 350m.
The stewards alleged visiting Sydney rider Chris Munce had to ease Bawalaksana out of a tight spot and come across the heels of Dantelah to lodge his challange.
The video showed Bawalaksana lost close to two lengths changing ground, considerably more than the head margin which separated the pair at the finish.
The decision came down to whether or not Bawalaksana could have/should have taken the gap when it presented itself.
Oliver and Perry were adamant Bawalaksana refused to charge through the gap for the 130m or so there was sufficient room.
"The other horse simply didn't want to take the gap," Oliver told the inquiry.
Trainer Paul O'Sullivan said Bawalaksana had been pulling himself up after getting to the front too soon in recent races and that he had instructed Munce not to ask the horse for his best until the 150m.
"Bawalaksana was in the gap waiting for his rider to say go, then the gap closed."
The inquiry was perhaps a fraction confusing, certainly different, for two Australian jockeys and one Australian trainer, all used to a system where the stipendiary stewards are prosecutor, judge and jury.
Munce went into the room in confident air once he heard it was a stipendiary stewards' inquiry, seemingly unaware that in New Zealand the stipes are simply the prosecutors.
The crunch, when it came, was devastating for the Dantelah camp.
Oliver claimed, and it was clear even in the live running, that Dantelah had shied at the crowd and considerable signeage inside the running rail in the final 75m and that the winning head margin flattered Bawalaksana's effort.
Perry chimed in: "If she hadn't shied she'd have won by more than a length - end of story."
Newcastle is a long way to come from to lose a group one race, something Dantelah has yet to achieve in her racing career and something you could argue is worth a conservative $1 million to her owners in broodmare potential.
"Not the way you like to win races," said Paul O'Sullivan, "but that's racing."
It was the O'Sullivan stable's seventh Railway after Silver Tip (1986), Mr Tiz (89, 90, 91), Ensign Ewart (94) and Coogee Walk last year.
Dave O'Sullivan, assisting his son, said he felt for Perry.
"I lost the Thorndon Mile at Trentham with Heidelberg in the inquiry room one year, and I swear blind I shouldn't have, so if Paul thinks he should have kept the race I know how he feels."
Munce told Paul O'Sullivan Bawalaksana is looking for more distance than 1200m and the rapidly improving sprinter will head for the 1200m Telegraph Handicap at Trentham.
After that Bawalaksana will likely tackle the 1600m Doncaster Handicap in Sydney, missing a return bout with Dantelah in the shorter Galaxy at Randwick.
You get the impression the Dantelah camp would have enjoyed the re-match.
They went home without the big cheque, but they won a lot of friends with the way they handled their agony.
While he almost certainly appreciated Dave O'Sullivan's gesture, Paul Perry didn't want a reminder of the worst day of his life to hang on his stable wall.
But you can bet your Christmas bonus he would love next year's rug.
Horse Racing: Aussies shattered by Railway relegation
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