By MIKE DILLON
Greg Childs has a short memory.
"You do your job and never get carried away with the hype," he said when asked whether he got excited over Sunline.
Had he really forgotten how he ran, yelling to the crowd and shaking all hands along the hedge-lined path to the winner's circle after Sunline won the Cox Plate?
"Well, let's say you don't get carried away with the hype until afterwards."
Make no mistake, Childs is excited about owning the ride every other jockey would kill for.
The $60,000 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes win was something to be excited about.
Short of real fitness, Sunline ran an amazing 1.21.42 1400m, with Childs adamant the mare could have clipped a full second off that time. What she would have run if she'd been fully zipped up in training would have been staggering.
"I admit I didn't think she'd win that easily," said Childs, "but it didn't surprise me - nothing surprises me about her."
Despite the ease of the win. Childs earned his riding fee.
Sunline was slower than usual out of the barriers and was caught three wide on the first bend.
"She came out slow because she was fresh and not mentally sharp. They were really running and I was concerned when I was caught wide on the first bend.
"She started to pull, but she came back under me beautifully and when I tucked her in behind Jim Collett's mount (joint leader Ma Danseuse) I knew I had her."
Childs pressed the button on Sunline early in the run home, but he didn't get cramp in the button finger.
"I asked her to go between the 400m and the 300m, but from there she was just coasting. I started to look around because the last thing I wanted was something like Giovana swooping at me late."
He need not have worried. Sunline was cantering in the closing stages, which makes her time outstanding.
"She will definitely benefit from the race," said Childs.
"For a start she was relaxed in the birdcage for a change, which is fabulous because it means she is finally starting to come to it."
That statement is significant. So is the fact Sunline will be running in the Mile not the 2000m Hong Kong International Cup on December 17.
The starting point, as much as the distance, is the key factor. Last December Sunline's fizzy temperament got her over the top when she had to walk around in front of the huge crowd of 80,000-odd with the barriers for the 2000m cup placed directly in front of the main public area in the home straight.
She refused to settle in the lead at any stage of the race and was left without a finishing sprint.
The mile start is up a chute at the start of the back straight, the most isolated part of Sha Tin racetrack.
The first to congratulate Childs in the jockeys' room was Lance O'Sullivan.
"Good on you Greg, there is always pressure on a good horse," said O'Sullivan.
In the crush of the birdcage parade when the big crowd pressed forward to get a glimpse of Sunline, bigtime owner Terry Jarvis, who had Sequel in the race, leaned over the rail.
Jarvis, a pragmatist, said: "I wonder if we can beat her," as much joking as not.
Even pragmatists are allowed to be optimists.
Sometimes.
* For the record, rank outsider Amnesia chased Sunline home three and a quarter lengths away and half a length in front of Soap Opera, who was runner-up to Sunline in the same race last year.
Persistent rain, which started 15 minutes before the race, quickly did some damage and did not aid the chances of well-fancied Tall Poppy, who finished a well-beaten sixth.
Racing: Even short of fitness Sunline is just too good
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