Majestic Moments (Nooresh Juglall) charges home for an easy win
South African trainer Patrick Shaw may have unearthed his Singapore Guineas contender after Majestic Moments defeated a handy field in the $100,000 JRA Trophy on Sunday.
Quality was replete in the Open Benchmark 83 race over 1400m with the likes of Three Rings Trophy winner Absolutely and smart three-year-old Titanium (they shared $17 favouritism), as well as the resuming Twickenham. Wonderful Prince and Power Lion.
But Shaw’s Darci Brahma three-year-old capitalised on his big weight advantage to make light work of this plethora of budding stars in rather commanding style.
Tracking up race-leader Power Lion (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) from the start, Majestic Moments, a last-start winner in more humble Class 4 company, took the first run when he went for broke at the top of the straight as Power Lion quickly faded.
All eyes were on the two joint-favourites, but both spotted Majestic Moments around three to four lengths halfway up the straight. Titanium (Corey Brown), who had followed worse than midfield, was trying his best to launch but looked flat-footed while Absolutely (Craig Newitt) looked like he was left with too much to do after giving a big start from last position. The son of Coats Choice was hooked out wide around the home turn, but the acceleration was sadly for his fans, insufficient.
Majestic Moments kept hitting the line solidly to hold off a very gallant Twickenham (Rueven Ravindra) by 1 ½ lengths with OM (Shafiq Rizuan) another neck away. The winning time was 1min 22.68secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
Patrick Shaw – pleased with his charge’s performance
“He’s scored a nice win for a three-year-old against older horses, and some very good older horses,” said Shaw.
“Obviously, the light weight (50kg) helped to beat such a nice strong field. He’s always been around and he’s done us proud today.
“I will see how he pulls up and I may then set him for the third Leg (of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge), the Singapore Guineas.
“Affleck will obviously be the horse to beat, but we can have a crack at him.”
Nooresh Juglall – double on the day
Juglall, whose love for Majestic Moments, the horse who gave him his first Kranji win last year, is growing further after that latest success, was full of praise for the Timen Stable-owned gelding.
“He’s been a good horse to me. He gave me my first win here,” said the Mauritian jockey who made it two on the day after winning earlier aboard Well Done.
“He has been working absolutely well all week and I was confident of a good run today even if he was in a strong field.
“I was told to keep my position and not commit to the lead if someone else like Power Lion went forward. When I saw him go forward, I just took it easy.
“We actually got a dream run and all I had to do was keep my position the whole way. We did get a bump from Power Lion before the home turn, but he fought on to win a decent race.
“No doubt, the light weight was a big boost today, but he’s definitely got a bright future here.”
Majestic Moments has now scored four wins from nine runs for stakes earnings in excess of $160,000 for connections.
Thanks to Singapore Turf Club
