RADECKER REBOUNDS WITH FEATURE RACE WINNER

Champion apprentice Mandy Radecker’s win on Rebounded in the feature race at Eagle Farm on Saturday sent a clear message to her rivals that she intends to carry on right where she left off last season and that, although one lofty ambition has been realised, she still has many fields to conquer.

“Yeah, just to keep winning,” nodded Radecker when asked of her aims for the new season. “Oh yes – and not to get injured,” said Radecker, nursing a pronounced facial bruising, courtesy of an untimely encounter with the back of the head of runner Spanish Fling a week earlier – the filly having flung her head back into the face of the rider in an incident before the start of the race.

“I guess I’m not off to a good start in that regard,” laughed Radecker. “But I least I haven’t been sidelined by the injury so it could have been a lot worse.

“She is a bit of nervous filly and when she broke away from the clerk of the course and saw she had nowhere to go she just panicked.

“The guys working at the barriers said it sounded very bad – like a loud crack - but she must have caught me more on the right hand side of my face than on the nose, because nothing was broken. Just a lot of bruising .. and that was painful enough,” continued Radecker.

“I couldn’t sneeze. I couldn’t yawn. It wasn’t fun.”

But a winner always goes some way towards making up for the downside of the profession.

Given the circumstances of being down on the ground being attended to by the medics one week and riding a feature race winner the next, Rebounded was probably as appropriately named a winner as their could have been in a result which continued Radecker’s run of regular successes.

Rebounded was superbly rated in front by Radecker before kicking on late in the stretch to secure his seventh career victory.

“I actually wanted something to go around me to be honest,” admitted Radecker. “Then he doesn’t pull as hard and it makes my job easier.

But with nobody else obliging, Rebounded was left with the front-running role and Radecker’s judgement of pace was put to the test.

Was Radecker confident all of the way? I put it to her that, if she was, she even had one of the race-callers fooled at the top straight when he suggested Rebounded might be coming under pressure.

“That was just my arms giving in,” answered Radecker. “I did know what he was capable of because I ride Rebounded in work every morning and, knowing your horse very well is a huge advantage and it can make a difference in those sorts of situations. So I knew he would be competitive all the way.”

And that is the way it proved to be with Rebounded responding in winning fashion to add another winner to the ever increasing Radecker ridden, Pat Duff trained combination honour roll.

Radecker is obviously very happy with the way things are going at the moment but she remains grounded about the task awaiting her in the future.

“I’ve just got to be realistic about what might happen, in terms of my opportunities, when I join the senior ranks,” said Radecker. “It’s going to be tough. But, like a say ... all I am aiming to do at the moment is to keep the winners coming. If I can do that, the rest will take care of itself.”