Long touted as a Derby hopeful even when he was only a budding talent, Song To The Moon took a step closer towards that lofty goal when he showed he could mix it with the big boys on Friday night.
Tackling much tougher fare in the $125,000 Open Handicap race over 2000m, the Savabeel four-year-old looked to have his job cut out when he was shuffled back to last of the small seven-horse field after a stop-and-start affair.
The Desmond Koh-trained Order Of The Sun (Wong Chin Chuen) tried to stack up the speed after he landed in front as expected, but quickened up again at the 800m when jockey Olivier Placais pushed wide on Perfect P to come eyeballing him.
As the tempo went resolutely up round the circle, Song To The Moon looked a little flat-footed with jockey Nooresh Juglall looking hard-pressed to spark him up for his run in order not to miss the boat.
But once Song To The Moon got into the rhythm and with the winning post clearly in his sights, the old instincts kicked in.
Upfront, Perfect P’s early move was shaping up as a winning move as he showed no intentions of letting up under Placais’ relentless riding while Time Odyssey (Glen Boss) could not really raise another gear, but on the outside, Song To The Moon was finishing like a freight-train, and though the $15 favourite proved a handful as he laid in badly under pressure, no doubt one of his Achilles heels, he got the job done.
Song To The Moon lunged to blouse stablemate Perfect P at the last hop with Time Odyssey half-a-length away in third to complete the trifecta for trainer Ricardo Le Grange.
The South African handler’s fourth runner Quechua (Barend Vorster) who carried the steadier of 59kgs and gave weight all round ran fifth, 1 ¼ lengths off the fourth-placed horse, Order Of The Sun (Wong Chin Chuen). The winning time was 2min 2.95secs for the 1 ¼ mile over the Short Course.
Le Grange had every reason to smile with three of his four wards filling the first three spots, and he could not even knock the one who finished outside the podium.
“Song To The Moon has always shown stacks of ability and he showed it again tonight,” said the first-year trainer.
“He’s always been more of an on-the-pace runner but tonight, he showed he could come from off the pace as well.
“Nooresh was again at his very best on him. Olivier also showed initiative on Perfect P and it was another amazing ride.
“But take nothing away from the winner. He was taking on better class of horses tonight and he has come through, and we will definitely set him for the Derby.
“I’m also very happy with Quechua’s run as he was giving weight. It was a very brave run from him under the circumstances.”
The Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) is the third Leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge and will be run on July 9.
After landing the top prize at his last two partnerships with Song To The Moon, Juglall for a second thought the booby prize could be coming their way this time around.
“I’m very surprised he won tonight. He was badly taken out of the race and I thought I lost the race,” said the Mauritian jockey.
“That is why I had to wake him up early and go around the field or we would have too much ground to make up.
“But he showed he was all heart all the way to the line. I couldn’t have asked for more and he did everything he could to get first on the line.
“Not many horses can do that. Tonight it wasn’t me, but the horse.”
Song To The Moon has now brought his handy record to five wins and one third from 10 outings for prizemoney that has now tipped over the $200,000 mark for the Jubilant Racing 3 Stable.
