FOR Order Again, it has not been so much a case of “if the shoe fits” but more “if the shoe stays on” after a history of hoof troubles, but his undoubted ability was on display for all to see at Doomben on Saturday.

Order Again should have a much better CV than the four wins in 11 starts it now shows.

A succession of feet problems have restricted his career and two luckless runs during the Winter Carnival didn’t help either. He only faced moderate opposition at Doomben on Saturday but at a trip well short of his best, he put them to the sword and posted a blistering time of 1min 17.69 sec for the 1350m.

Despite all the setbacks, trainer Brian Smith still thinks the five-year-old will fulfil his potential in time, provided the gelding can keep himself out of trouble.

“When you’ve got a commodity like him, you have to be patient,” Smith said. “There’s been a lot of talk about who the best horse in Queensland is and his name has been mentioned.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that when he’s right he is.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of things he’s had go wrong with his feet.

“We waited a year and I’ve got him right. The feet are good, even though he ripped another shoe off last Wednesday.

“But that was awesome today. I really enjoyed that and he showed what he’s really capable of. He will run in a mile race here next and then go to Sydney for the Kingston Town Stakes, which he will get in well at the weights.”

Larry Cassidy says Order Again is a horse that’s very fond of himself, so much so that a mirror wouldn’t be out of place in his stable barn.

“He fancies himself a bit. I think he’d like to be a colt. He thinks it’s a bit of a joke sometimes,” he said.

But the multiple Group 1-winning rider is happy to forgive him for that and feels Smith has him in the best form of his career.

“I clicked him up for 200m (Saturday) morning and I said to Brian I thought it was the best he’d ever felt,” he said.

“He bungled the start so I just let him be where he was comfortable. They ran along which helped and when I came around the corner, he picked them up in a couple of strides.

“The stable has put a lot of time into him, with those feet. Brian is a master and he’s just bided his time. I only jump on him three or four times a week. I get the easy part.

“He would have won the Derby if he hadn’t gone amiss.

“Even thinking back to that preparation, he had no right at all to win the Grand Prix given the things that had gone wrong that whole campaign.”

MEET MR TAYLOR GREETED WARMLY BY BOOKIES
MEET Mr Taylor did the right thing by bookies when keeping his unbeaten record intact in the Class 3 Plate (1050m) at Doomben.

Punters took a shine to the Kris Lees-trained Tawfiq Boy ($5.50-$4.40) and From Within ($2.30), but Meet Mr Taylor fended them all off to make it three in a row.

From Within looked certain to win when she ambled up to the leader at the 300m, but when Ryan Maloney asked her to go, she found little under pressure while Meet Mr Taylor ($7) kept finding.

“He’s doing everything on fear at the moment. When he learns to relax he will be a serious horse,” jockey Mark Du Plessis said.

Trainer Kelly Schweida also has a good opinion of the son of Turffontein, but is likely to order a break for the four-year-old now.

“He just doesn’t know how to get beat. He is so raw, but he has so much ability,” Schweida said. “If I have my way, he will go for a break now.”

Another horse on bookies’ pin-up boards on Saturday was the Danny Bougoure-trained Mittere, who upset hot pot Ef Troop in the QTIS Three-year-old Handicap.

“He’s been wayward, but the blinkers made him more tractable today,” Bougoure said.

“All of the Smart Missile progeny tend to get better with age. His work had been good and he was rock-hard fit.”

Shesees Everything bounced back from her second-up defeat to showcase her claims for stakes success later in the year when powering over the top of stablemate My Girl Hayley in the F & M Class 6 Plate (1200m).

Matt McGillivray said he rode Shesees Everything where she was comfortable on Saturday and after the jockey quickly extricated her to the outside on the home turn, she responded generously.

“She showed an electric turn of foot today. I could have bustled her early but I didn’t want to rev her up too much and she showed how good she can finish when she’s ridden like that,” McGillivray said.

Trainer Tony Gollan completed a winning double when the enigmatic Courtza King led throughout under Brad Stewart, who had won earlier on Fiery Heights.