Quicksilver (Nooresh Juglall) opens his account in style
A Boland Stud-bred son of Var and 2013 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale broke his duck in fine style in Singapore on Friday and looks destined for a bright track career.
The issues that used to plague Quicksilver at the barrier gates looked to be behind him after he overcame a wide draw to break his duck in Friday’s $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m.
The Patrick Shaw-trained galloper had yet to make an appearance in the winners’ circle prior to this race and much of the blame was apportioned to him being uneasy in the pens. The Singapore Turf Club’s assistant starter John Pepe was roped in by Shaw’s camp to help school the three-year-old gelding in a bid to right the problem.
Nooresh Juglall – rode a confident race
Quicksilver no signs of difficulty at the gates this time round as he was bounced out of gate number 14 by Nooresh Juglall to take the early lead, before relinquishing it to stablemate Terms Of Reference (Barend Vorster) and I’m Kool (Alan Munro) just as they entered the first turn.
As the field straightened, it was increasingly looking like a two-horse race between the two Patrick Shaw runners as Quicksilver went after Terms Of Reference. With 200m to go, Quicksilver displayed a terrific turn of foot to take him past the leader and he went on to take the race in a winning time of 1min 10.8secs.
Terms Of Reference had to settle for second place one-and-three-quarter lengths astern with Lucky Lincoln (Zuriman Zulkifli) third, a further three-parts-of-a-length away.
Shaw had no doubt about who deserved the plaudits for Quicksilver’s winning performance.
Quicksilver – the yearling
“Being problematic in the stall was his (Quicksilver) main problem,” said the South African handler.
“We must thank John Pepe and his team for all the hard work he has been putting in to correct it. They did an excellent job as you can see.
Patrick Shaw – thrilled with the win
“We would also like to say well done to Boland Stud where we bought him, Avontuur Stud who stands the stallion Var and the stud manager Pippa Mickleburgh. They have been very kind to us and we would like to share this win with them.”
Juglall, who was having his third ride on Quicksilver, was glad to see the son of Var finally showing his true colours.
“We have been very patient with this horse and tonight he has proven that he has got the class,” said the Mauritian hoop.
“This horse has ability. Towards the end when I asked the question, he just took off.”
From a future perspective, Quicksilver looks like he will be kept in the sprints for his next few races.
“He looks like he will be a good sprinter. We will keep him at 1200m for the time being and see how he progresses,” said Shaw.
With this win, Quicksilver took his stakes earnings to in excess of $42,000 for the Avengers Stable.
He was bred by Boland Stud and is by Var out of the six-time winning Caesour mare, Calpurnia.
He was purchased for R280 000 on the 2013 National Yearling Sale.
