Japanese trainer Hideyuki Takaoka joked that Friday winner Matsuribayashi would have dozed off halfway through the race if jockey Olivier Placais had not “woken him up” right through the race.
The Frenchman, who is not known to be shy when it comes to giving his horses a few tastes of the persuader, was indeed seen scrubbing up the Japanese-bred four-year-old down the back in the $45,000 Class 4 Non Premier race over 1700m.
Upfront, stablemate Hero In The Wind (Mohd Zaki) was not out to break records, but Matsuribayashi was certainly making Placais earn every cent of his riding fee, as he looked to be still toiling under his rider’s strong urgings for most of the way.
Then came a first crack of the whip at the 600m mark as the Matsurida Gogh four-year-old tried to take closer order three abreast with the pace picking up a notch upfront. The penny was still not dropping even if the running action was loosening up a bit better.
Into the run to the judge for the nine contenders, Amazing Man (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) and Dream Big (Alysha Collett) had the more enterprising outlook about their assaults, but Matsuribayashi had suddenly decided to spring out of bed as he drew upsides under Placais’ battering - which had by then reached full Conductor (Placais’ nickname) crescendo.
Once he poked his head in front, he - luckily for the backers who took him at his prohibitive $10 odds – kept hitting the line resolutely to get the money by 1 ¼ lengths from Amazing Man with Dream Big third another half-length away. The winning time was 1min 47.56secs for the 1700m on the Polytrack.
“That’s the way to ride him or else, he would go to sleep,” said Takaoka.
“Olivier was riding him for the first time, but we told him what he’s like. We didn’t have to tell him, anyway, he would have found out by himself.
“His two other wins were over that course and distance, but he had to work hard for that third win tonight.”
Placais would probably argue that it was the one on top who was doing most of the donkey work.
“Riding this horse is like riding a rollercoaster!” he said. “For 50m, he won’t go, then he quickens and then he stops another 100m later.
“I had to work hard on him and pulled the whip early just to get him going. It’s only at the top of the straight that he went a bit easier for me.
“He actually stopped again and was laying in on Glen’s (Boss) horse (Billy Britain). I told myself, no I’m not going to regather my reins now, I’ll just let him flow, and luckily, he kept up his momentum to the line.
“It’s my first time riding him. He’s actually been beating around the bush for a while (two seconds at last two starts).
“He showed plenty of guts and I’m sure he’ll sleep well tonight.”
Another horse who is guaranteed to enjoy a peaceful snooze is Oculist. The well-backed Leslie Khoo-trained son of Al Maher was certainly in a hurry to get on with it after he broke through his gate without Vlad Duric before the start, going on to complete four laps of the course riderless and unbridled (his bridle slipped off when he barged through).
Matsuribayashi has now taken his record to two wins and three placings from 20 starts for prizemoney hitting around the $90,000 mark for the Star Racing No 4 Stable.
