Champion jockey Vlad Duric was right on the money at his very first partnership with new trainer Donna Logan on Friday night.
The New Zealand handler has been plying her trade at Kranji since April, having thus far sent out around 30 runners from her budding team of horses for two winners (Green Star and Burkaan) up until Friday.
Logan usually books jockeys like Craig Grylls, Alysha Collett or even locals like champion apprentice jockey Wong Chin Chuen and her own apprentice jockey Desmond Chan Wei Sheng, but has not really been one to hire the top guns.
Maybe it was a strong pointer to Key Success’s ($29) chances in the penultimate race, the $45,000 Class 4 Non Premier race over 1600m, but Duric’s engagement was also a little by default.
“Nooresh (Juglall) rode this horse at his last two starts and did nothing wrong on him, but he’s away as his wife had to give birth,” said Logan who was saddling the Fully Fledged five-year-old at his fifth run for her since his arrival in April from trainer Kuah Cheng Tee as a one-time winner (1200m).
“There were a lot of riders we could use to replace Nooresh, but after I rang the owners, we decided to put Vlad on. I have to say the horse has been screaming out for the mile and Vlad rode a fantastic race on him.
“He’s a horse that has kept progressing ever since he came to us and I’m really happy for the owners.”
Duric jumped off saying he had plenty of horse underneath him as he plotted a wide path three abreast approaching the home turn.
“The horse was beautifully prepared by Donna. It’s my first ride for her and it’s a winner, I’m really rapt,” said the Australian hoop who was reaching the half-tonne (50 winners) with that second win for the night (he saluted earlier with $12 favourite Gloria Eclipse for James Peters in the opener, the $38,000 Kranji Stakes D Division 2 race over 1100m).
“He looked lovely in the parade ring. He’s a beautiful horse who’s full of energy and was spot-on for this race.
“I’ve had a lot of seconds lately, and I’ve copped a bit of a spray from the punters over the fence, but I always try my best and it’s good to ride a double tonight.”
Likewise, Logan was thankful for that latest visit to the winner’s enclosure at Kranji especially as, contrary to Duric, hers has been a lot less frequent.
“I’m very happy with the way things have been coming along. We didn’t come here guns-a-blazing, but we’re slowly making our mark,” said the winner of 850 races in New Zealand including 60 at Group and Listed level.
“We’ve got a good team of horses and owners, and like anywhere in the world, we try and get the jockeys who would put themselves out there to do the best they can.”
Third at his last two runs, Key Success enjoyed a gun run in third before being peeled off three wide coming to the top of the straight.
In one fell swoop, he gobbled the fading leader Redoubt (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) and Humdinger (Alysha Collett) before bounding away to an emphatic win, defeating Gol Goal (John Powell) by just under four lengths with Warrior King (Glen Boss) narrowly beaten for the runner-up spot by a nose. The winning time was 1min 39.82secs for the 1600m on the Polytrack.
With that second win, Key Success has now amassed over $60,000 in prizemoney for the Successful Stable.
