Ryan Moore, second in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational in Florida last Saturday and in the Classic Mile at Sha Tin on Monday, had to be content with the runner-up spot yet again in the Sun Met at Kenilworth on Saturday.
Ryan Moore – international bridesmaid at moment! (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The Racing Post reports that Moore looked sure to score when he sent last year’s winner Rainbow Bridge up to join One World a furlong out, but the 17-4 shot proved to have less in the tank than it appeared and One World battled to a head victory.
“Rainbow Bridge ran a great race but I never thought I had it,” said Moore, who had never ridden in South Africa until Saturday.
Jockey MJ Byleveld, winning the country’s richest conditions race for the first time, said: “Ryan went a head up on me but I always thought I would hold on.”
The 15-1 winner was the first Met success for 38-year-old Byleveld but the third for trainer Vaughan Marshall, who admitted he might not have run the four-year-old had the owners not pressed him to do so.
He said: “I had my doubts about whether he would stay the ten furlongs so I was in two minds about running him here, but the owners were very keen to do so.”
Hawwaam, the latest Mike de Kock star, went off favourite at 43-20 but he was beaten into third, a further three and a half lengths back.
The four-year-old is owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum and now goes into quarantine before leaving for Mauritius (when he will be similarly isolated for three months) and will next be seen in action in Britain.
- www.racingpost.com
