Bold frontrunner Alasamo reproduced his previous pillar-to-post victory but unlike his easier last-start win, he had to battle hard to get home in Friday’s $60,000 Class 4 Polytrack race (1900m).
Just 14 days ago, donning blinkers and pacifiers again after three failed attempts without any, Alasamo attempted the 1900m for the first time in a Kranji Stakes D race (1900m). The Alamosa four-year-old, who was reuniting with Corey Brown after nine months, took the lead from the get-go to cruise home an impressive 3 ½-length winner.
That was a good indication of his preferred racing pattern and Friday night’s 1900m run on Polytrack gave his handler Michael Freedman the perfect opportunity to replicate that win.
Again, Alasamo was off like a rocket from the gates and led Bourne Academy (Thavarajan Barnabas) and Jim (Syahir Ahmad) as the trio led the field, holding on to his lead stubbornly until the end.
Even the late challenge by Super Joe (Nooresh Juglall) on the outside did not faze him as he took the race in 2 mins 0.45 secs, a neck ahead of second-placed Super Joe. Iking was a further three parts of a length away in third.
“His natural running style is to lead,” said Freedman. “That was how he won the last time.
“There are no other natural leaders in the field to compete for that early front spot, so that helped.
“Corey rode him perfectly tonight. We will now look around for a suitable race for him. If we can find something around 2000m or further, he can probably step up to that challenge.”
Brown felt that the New Zealand gelding can go up in class based on his last two performances.
“He is more than capable of winning a Class 4 race,” said the Australian jockey.
“He’s a natural leader. You can’t hold him back. The more you let go, the better he runs.
“Once he hit the 600m mark, he was running at top speed and he will just keep whacking away from there. It will take a really good horse to catch him then.”
This win brings Alasamo’s total earnings to the region of $115,000 for the O & T Stable.
