Jockey Corey Brown made the most of a pick-up ride when he guided First Tothelign to victory in the $65,000 Graduation Stakes over 1200m on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
First Tothelign was supposed to have been ridden by John Powell, but the rider was stood down on medical grounds following the third race on Sunday’s 11 race card.
Powell had been wasting hard to get down to First Tothelign’s 54 kg and fell ill following his ride on G Power in the third event.
Brown made most of the opportunity as he guided the $10 favourite to a two-and-a-half length win over Empress Wu (Tengku Rehaizat) with What’s Dat (Manoel Nunes) a nose away third.
First Tothelign was one of the first to begin and went through to lead, but got little peace in the run with Theology (Sam Subien) and Sugartime Jazz (Oscar Chavez) applying the pressure.
Sugartime Jazz was the first to feel the pinch while Theology was beaten off soon after turning for home.
First Tothelign drifted out up the straight and it allowed Empress Wu and What’s Dat to close the margin at the finish.
Brown said First Tothelign had looked at the big screen the whole way up the straight and for that reason was getting out and away from the fence.
“This is the first time I’ve been on this horse and he’s a nice type,” said Brown.
“I’ve seen him out on the track of a morning and when JP (Powell) was stood down I certainly made myself available for the ride.
“He’s loaded with ability but at the moment he doesn’t know what racing is about. He looked at the big screen all the way up the straight.
“He’s still a bit new and once he puts it altogether he’ll be a really nice horse.”
Trainer Shane Baertschiger said he has no ambitious plans for First Tothelign at this stage of his career saying he will continue taking him through his grades.
“He’s still green and is still learning,” said Baertschiger. “He’s done it tough today.
“I was a bit worried early on when he got taken on in the front and then ran out off the track.
That was his first run in five weeks and he’s still got a lot of improvement to come from this.”
Baertschiger said First Tothelign went off his feed following his debut win on April 26 but had recovered to be down just 4kg in body weight on that debut win.
“He was down 4kg on his weight the other day but you would expect that going from their first run to their second,” said Baertschiger.
“Eventually I would like to see him get up to 1400m and be able to take a sit.
“He’s a pretty talented horse.”
First Tothelign is a New Zealand-bred three-year-old by Align from Dilemma and has won around $65,000 in prizemoney for MA Racing Stable.
