Jockey Nooresh Juglall quickly bounced back from his recent race fall injury with a win at his very first ride since the accident.
The Mauritian rider took a heavy tumble from Rusty Brown in the penultimate race on February 5 after his mount appeared to clip heels at the 700m. At first, there were some fears he might be out of action for a while when he was found to have hurt his tongue and cheeks at the hospital and had to receive treatment.
But Juglall was discharged on the same night and was luckily cleared of any serious injury. A doctor’s review of his condition a few days later gave him the green light to return to race-riding as early as this weekend, meaning he missed only last week’s double meeting.
Booked on five rides on Friday, and another seven on Sunday, Juglall did not take long to find his way to a place he had already visited nine times this year before the fall.
Partnering a horse he steered to a creditable fourth on debut in spite of a horror draw – Southern Glory – Juglall elected for the same tactics aboard the Bruce Marsh-trained son of Stryker in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1400m, dropping back at the rear and posted wide, only touching the $22 shot for his run upon straightening.
While the 1100m at his debut proved too short, he had 300m more to exploit this time. Favourite Redoubt (Glen Boss) looked to have the field at bay, but Southern Glory stormed home on the outside to deny him by a neck.
Star Invincible (Olivier Placais) raced handy throughout but lacked punch inside the last furlong to run third another length away. The winning time was 1min 23.47secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
“I’m glad that I was able to win at my very first ride back from injury,” said Juglall.
“You don’t want such injuries to happen, but you can’t escape them sometimes. I’d like to thank the trainer Bruce Marsh and the owner David Goh for putting me on such a nice horse.
“It’s my first time winning a race for Bruce and I hope there’ll be more to come in the future.
“I rode this horse at his first race and he was caught wide just like tonight, but the 1100m was too short. I was more confident over the 1400m, even if the wide draw was still a worry.
“He’s a very nice horse and I’m sure he’ll improve further after this win.”
Marsh was also pleased with the way the chestnut has not taken long to show his wares.
“He was caught three wide at his first run and he was running away from them,” said the Kiwi conditioner.
“He was again wide tonight but the longer trip was in his favour. On the way he won, he should be able to go further.”
