‘Better late than never’ seems to be Valevole’s mantra when he ran true to his style by storming home late to win the $100,000 Open Benchmark 97 race over 1100m on Friday night.
He was nowhere near the front half of the field when the race jumped. Instead it was Got Luck (Barend Vorster) and Petrenui (Oscar Chavez) who took the early initiative as the field settled. When the pack entered the bend, the frontrunners were joined by Southern Boss (Joseph See) and Golden Brilliant (Manoel Nunes).
The leading quartet set such a fiery pace as they negotiated the bend that they threatened to pull away from the rest with over 600m still to run.
At the top of the straight, it was Petrenui who was in front, closely followed by Southern Boss. Got Luck, who was returning from a 208-day break, kicked strongly upon straightening and wrestled the lead from Petrenui with Golden Brilliant in close attendance.
As all eyes watched the current leaders jostle for the lead amongst themselves, Valevole, with Zawari Razali on his back, took the outside road and crept up on them unnoticed.
By the time he broke into the top three, his momentum was too great for the rest to match and the Brazilian gelding went on to finish in a winning time of 1min 5.01secs. Got Luck’s valiant run got him a respectable second place just a short head behind the winner. $10 race favourite Golden Brilliant came in another three-parts-of-a-length away in third.
Zawari could not believe the race he just rode and credited his familiarity with the Our Emblem six-year-old’s running style for keeping his faith.
“The pace looked too fast and I thought there was no way we would catch up,” said the Malaysian rider.
“But I have ridden him so many times so I know that is his style. You cannot push him. You must give him time to get into the race.
“He is an experienced horse and knows when to run and he has the ability to really kick when the time is right.”
Trainer Brian Dean was full of praise for the winning pair.
“His style of running suits the Polytrack but he almost didn’t qualify for tonight’s race,” said Dean.
“The race was originally Class 2 and since his rating is 92, he would have been 3 points over. But they changed it into an Open Benchmark 97 and that’s why he could run.
“The horse just got up there and did the job today. You always worry about catching the rest with a horse that runs like he does but he has loads of ability and he showed it tonight.
“He doesn’t like horses outside him as he doesn’t like to get crowded up so Zawari knows he needs to ride him on the outside. Zawari has been riding him very well and I hope that continues to be the case.
“I would really like to thank Fred Crabbia for letting me train his horses.”
With this win, Valevole has brought home stakes winnings of just under $650,000 for the South African owner.
