Trainer Patrick Shaw was in super form in spite of the haze on Friday night as he rang up a double with Saffir and Super Joe, though he did rue the bad air was not without some detrimental side-effects.
As Super Joe pulled up and headed to the winner’s box, jockey Nooresh Juglall had to quickly dismount as he felt his horse was very distressed, and was to be consequently straightaway unsaddled and led back to the stables for a well-earned recuperation.
Shaw made an appeal that a tap or any other form of water supply should be made available around the unsaddling area, especially under such dire climatic conditions.
“There’s not much of him and he did feel the effect of the haze, I’m sure,” said the South African mentor.“It would be a good idea to have a tap near the winner’s box for such cases.
“Anyway, he won very well. He’s a horse that can kick away very well when he has a good run in transit.
The diminutive son of Not A Single Doubt certainly deserved an A for the way he did it the hard way after he popped off the rails midrace to launch his run three wide in the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1700m on Polytrack.
Swift (Oscar Chavez) was the horse to run down when he swept to the front halfway up the straight, but Super Joe ($40) kept working home solidly out wide to collar the Alwin Tan-trained galloper before drawing clear for a comfortable 2 ¼-length win. Swift held on well for second spot by a head from the fast-closing Mr Clooney (Corey Brown).
"He was slow out of the gates, but as he jumped from gate No 1, I held the rails and I was lucky I could hold my position," said Juglall.
"My horse was always travelling very well and from the 800m, I knew he'd be hard to beat."
It was a totally different script for Shaw’s earlier winner Saffir (Mohd Firdaus, $54) who gained the lead early in the $60,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m on Polytrack, and was never to be caught thereafter. Mighty Man (Brown) ran on for second another 1 ¾ lengths away with last-start winner Satellite Prince (Juglall) third another 1 ¼ lengths away.
Shaw was delighted the Argentinian-bred four-year-old by Pure Prize had scored back-to-back wins, but could not help poking some good-natured fun at the owner Fred Crabbia.
“It’s great Saffir has won two-in-a-row for Fred - on our expense, while he is on holiday in Italy,” said Shaw in jest.
“Seriously, he’s a horse that has found himself and has found the right distance.”
