Jockey Alan Munro showed his magnanimous side after his mount Black Fury won one race just after he saw his regular ride Gold Rutile run away with the feature race of the night, the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy on Friday.
The English rider has been the partner of the Japanese mare at all bar three of her previous 31 runs, but switched to one of the fancies in the race, Jimmy Rea, with whom he won at their first combination last time out.
It is fair to say most jockeys would probably have pulled the same rein as Munro, but the fact remains Jimmy Rea, the second favourite, could only run seventh, allowing Munro a full view of Gold Rutile’s rear as she went on to nudge out favourite Spalato on his nearside.
But Munro is no sore loser as could be witnessed later on ‘live’ on TV when he gave one of the most sportsmanlike speeches heard at Kranji.
Though some might say Black Fury’s subsequent win in the $80,000 Big Maverick 2008 Stakes, a Class 3 race over 1200m, might have helped him from smarting too much over the wrong choice, one could sense he was genuinely sincere about his good wishes to the winning connections of the EW Barker Trophy.
“I’m so happy for her. She really deserves it as she’s been unlucky so many times,” said Munro.
“And I’m happy for Chavez too as he’s also a good friend and he helps me a lot. So I don’t him one anymore!”
Bouncing straight back from that defeat, Munro was seen at his brilliant best on Black Fury, a horse he also knows well for having partnered him at all his four previous wins, all recorded on the Polytrack as opposed to the turf he finally conquered on Friday night.
Odds-on favourite Winning Man (Shafiq Rizuan) set the early tempo of the race alongside The General (Barend Vorster) while Black Fury followed in fourth position, travelling relaxed on the rails.
Swinging for home, Winning Man slid up to The General and many thought the undefeated son of Patapan would spreadeagle his rivals like he did at his last run, for a third consecutive win, but it soon became clear that the lights were out this time round.
The Leslie Khoo-trained gelding disappeared from the race in a heartbeat to shockingly beat one home, leaving the coast clear for those who had been lurking in the wings, and first to rock up was Black Fury, sniffing up a fifth hurrah.
Well ridden by Munro, the Holy Roman Emperor five-year-old defied his mammoth odds of $226 to rally home with one length to spare from Divided House (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) with The General holding on for third another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 10.03secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
“He loves the cut in the ground. He’s got sore knees and he takes care of himself on the Polytrack in the morning,” said Munro.
“I just rode him the way I’ve always ridden him. I had no idea who the favourite was, and when my horse hit the front, he showed a very good turn of foot to win a nice race.”
Aware of Black Fury’s poor record on turf, Kieser agreed with Munro that the showers in the afternoon helped them go against the grain.
“The last time he ran on turf, it was a little too hard and he resented that,” said the South African conditioner.
“Anyway, he doesn’t seem to run well on turf, but there was no race available for him and we ran him in this race tonight. The cut in the ground suited him and it’s paid off.
“He’s a horse that cost us only $1,500 as a yearling at the Inglis sales in Sydney and he sure has more than paid his way.”
Black Fury has now brought his stakes earnings past the $200,000 mark for his proud owners from the RX Stable.
