Weeks of patience have paid off with wayward newcomer Southern Man as evidenced by his smart debut win on Friday night in spite of all his barrier antics leading up to that first run.
The Anacheeva three-year-old has been a real handful to trainer John O’Hara and track riders alike, at the barrier gates. Getting loaded was his main issue, and he would let it be known by throwing every trick in the book to avoid those dreaded stalls – buck, rear, pig-root, double-barrel, you name it.
But with the expert handling of barrier attendants under the direction of Singapore Turf Club starters Damien Kinninmont and John Pepe, the taming process eventually conquered, hence his first race in Friday’s $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m could finally get underway.
Ridden by O’Hara’s apprentice jockey Troy See, Southern Man ($18) was actually a real professional in the race, keeping race-leader Pomp (Benny Woodworth) in his sights before throwing down the gauntlet upon straightening.
Showing great balance and a lovely turn of foot, Southern Man dashed clear to go and score by two lengths from longshot Scorpio (Chan Wei Sheng) with odds-on favourite One Kinabalu (John Powell) third another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 11.33secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
O’Hara said Southern Man was not a problem horse until he comes up at the starting stalls. He was so unruly that two of his track riders bore the brunt of it.
“He’s actually not a difficult horse to train, but it’s his barrier manners which are horrible,” said the Singaporean handler.
“He sent two of my track riders to the hospital, Mohd Shahril who was so badly hurt he cannot ride anymore, and here I have a special thought for him. The other rider was my senior track rider Martin Koh, but luckily, his injury was not as serious.
“It’s been a long process to re-educate this horse. We knew he had potential and that’s why we persevered with him.
“Here, I have to say a big thank you to the STC starters Damien and John for staying late after all the barrier trials every Tuesday and Wednesday are over, just to look after this horse.
“I’d also like to thank all their staff as well, it’s been a team effort and without them, we wouldn’t have been able to get that horse where he is today. A lot of work has gone into it and he is well-behaved now.
“It was good to see him win first-up, too, which goes to show patience pays off. It’s great for the owners (TTS Stable), too, as they have also been very patient.”
See joked that Southern Man was not exactly the type of horse most jockeys would like to jump on, but something tells us he would be retracting this comment from now on.
“He’s not exactly a first choice horse for any jockey, but this is what we’re in for when we decide to become jockeys. It’s part of my job,” said See.
“I rode him a few times in trackwork and I got dumped twice. He was still a bit spooked by the lights and all tonight but he gave no trouble at the gates.
“He jumped very well and landed in a perfect trail. The pace suited him and he won quite comfortably in the end.”
