Ricardo Le Grange was a happy man after he was able to train his first winner for fellow South African owner Michael Leaf on Friday night.
The horse to make that possible was Chosen Harvest who was incidentally at his maiden win in Singapore, and as good things often come in threes, it also gave comeback jockey Barend Vorster a flying return back from injury.
Sporting blinkers for the first time at his eighth start, Chosen Harvest, an Australian-bred three-year-old by Choisir, was always in the running line and just too good when Vorster popped the question at the top of the straight.
Favourite Big Banker(Danny Beasley) valiantly tried to reel him in, but Chosen Harvest ($25) was not going to be denied his ice-breaker this time as he scooted clear to a comfortable 1 ¾ length win.
Gold Customer (Alan Munro) finished third another three parts of a length away. The winning time was 1min 47.13secs for the 1700m journey on Polytrack.
“Mr Leaf has been a great supporter of ours, and I would like to thank him for giving us this horse to train,” said Le Grange.
“He is a big owner back in South Africa, and Chosen Harvest is the first horse he has sent us.
“I thank him for his patience as the horse had an injury. We’ve taken our time and we always knew he was not without ability.
“The blinkers on for the first time also helped. It’s also great for Barend to win like this at his first ride back from injury.”
The diminutive South African jockey hurt his hip and knee in a seemingly harmless pre-race fall from Petite Victoire at the beginning of May, and was thereafter sidelined for four weeks.
“It’s great to ride a winner at my very first ride back. I wanted to take it easy with only two rides and horses like this makes things easier for you,” he said.
“I was able to get him in a beautiful position, and I just bided my time. He picked up very well when I let go.
“Credit to Ricardo who has been very patient with this horse. He is a big one-paced horse but he quickened very well and outstayed them tonight.
“I think he should win a couple more races from now on.”
