Trainer Daniel Meagher could not have dreamt of a better outcome to the $65,000 Initiation race over 1000m on Polytrack after his two newcomers Soonbaby and Silver Sky hogged the first two spots in that order on Friday night.
Granted the debuting pair had pleased the Australian second-year handler in their workouts and lead-up barrier trials, but they still had to frank that form on the racetrack, which is always a bit of an unknown quantity, especially under the lights.
Though still green, both Soonbaby and Silver Sky went on to pass their first tests with flying colours, finishing right at the top of the queue, with only half-a-length separating them.
Incidentally, Meagher actually had both ends covered as he had a third runner Zolved who ran last, though it has to be said he proved a handful in the barriers.
But obviously, that run had been completely eclipsed by his two stablemates’ runs, especially Soonbaby for the beginner’s luck story it came with in terms of owner-trainer partnership.
“I’m so happy for Uncle Soon. He’s been really fantastic, and it’s great to get a win for him at our first runner,” said Meagher.
“Unfortunately, he’s not here tonight, but he has friends from Hong Kong to celebrate that win. He has about 20 horses in Malaysia, but Soonbaby is his first horse here, and hopefully, he will send me more horses!
“It’s (Kuala Lumpur trainer) Anna Scott who trained that horse first; he even trialled for her before she recommended to Uncle Soon to send him to us. A big thank you to Anna for that.
“There will be a lot more improvement to come out of that first run. It took some time to get him to race as he had some hiccups, but nothing too serious.
“He got lost when he hit the front, but he kept going, and thanks to Danny (Beasley) who rode him a treat.
“I’m very happy with this result, the second horse (Silver Sky) also ran very well. I think the owner (RT Stable) will have a bit of fun with that horse, too.”
Punted down to $13 favouritism, Soonbaby was always travelling like a winner despite coursing out three wide for most of the trip, just keeping frontrunner Happy Dayz (Vlad Duric) in his sights before making his move.
The moment Beasley said ‘go’ shortly after cornering, the CS Racing Stable-owned Redwood three-year-old lengthened up nicely to hit the lead, but could not quite clear out as expected. That was when Silver Sky (Salim Yusoff) came rattling home on the outside, but Soonbaby was able to hang on for the top prize.
Elite Gold (Shafiq Rizuan) stuck on well for third place another 1 ½ lengths away. Soonbaby who comes from a nice lineage in New Zealand being out the Stravinsky mare Wahaha, a half-sister to multiple-Group 1 winner Wall Street, stopped the clock at 58.88 seconds for the 1000m on Polytrack.
“He is a nice horse with a nice pedigree. I didn’t have much to do with him, though,” said Beasley.
“He’s a big boy with big strides, and he had a pretty sweet run in transit, uncomplicated. He was a touch light in his trial and he was like that again tonight.
“We just tracked the leader and in the straight, I knew he had the race in his keeping.”
