It’s been a long time between drinks, but trainer Bruce Marsh finally made a welcomed return to the winner’s enclosure with debutant Lucky Boy on Friday night.
The Kiwi handler had been waiting for a winner since Top Gun on October 2. Incidentally it was the same former Malaysian galloper who supplied Marsh with his last success on September 13.
But the aptly-named Lucky Boy ($15 favourite) picked the right time to bring some cheers to Marsh by landing a comfortable two-length win in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m.
Well ridden by A’Isisuhairi Kasim, the Red Arrow three-year-old settled in a prominent position after a smart jump before going for broke at the top of the straight as leader Dragon Gold (Troy See) kept drifting off to the centre of the track.
Another newcomer Aurora Australis (Corey Brown) ran on strongly for second while In Bocca El Lupo (Joseph See) did well to finish third first-up from a three-month break, another three parts of a length away. The winning time was 1min 10.84secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
Marsh said he had expected a forward run from the new Synthetic Stable acquisition who arrived in his yard last November.
“He won a trial by six lengths but they ran 1.2 (1min and 2 seconds). So I was not getting too carried away with that,” said Marsh.
“But he’s been working well and I thought he would go well first-up. The plan was to be in 3 or 4 but he jumped so good that Harry had no other choice but to let him roll.
“I think he’s a horse who can get a bit of distance if he settles. It’s been a while since our last win and we’ll definitely toast to that!”
A’Isisuhairi, who has all but conceded the title he won in last two years, to Shafiq Rizuan this year, was glad he was still able to keep up his win count ticking over, now sitting at 25 wins after he went on to score a double with another newcomer Casing Royal ($29) for Alwin Tan two races later in the $65,000 Initiation Division 1 race (1200m). He is still a big gap of 26 wins behind Shafiq.
“He’s a promising young horse. I rode him in a trial and he gave me a very good feel,” said the Kelantan-born rider.
“I expected him to run well tonight, but I did tell Bruce he carries his head a bit high, and I thought it could be the shadow roll.
“But Bruce told me we should leave it on at his first race and it’s worked out good in the end. When I pushed the button, he just ran away from them.”
