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The Patrick Shaw-Nooresh Juglall hot streak does not look like it will end anytime soon after they brought up another winner in Song To The Moon in Race 2 on Sunday.
Last Friday’s meeting was indeed a night to remember for both Shaw and Juglall. The South African handler saddled a four-timer, including hitting his 800-win mark with the third pin, Big Brother, combining with the Mauritian rider with all four winners – Mighty Kenny, Mighty Emperor, Big Brother and Rafaello. Juglall went one step further by achieving a career-best haul of five winners with the Leslie Khoo-trained Queen Roulette in the penultimate race.
And the duo were right on the money from the very first of another solid book of runners for the day (12 runners for Shaw, nine for Juglall with six of them in partnership), Song To The Moon who was on the quick back-up after last Sunday’s debut seventh to Paperback Trooper.
Settled in midfield in the compact field from the start, Song To The Moon ($21) was within striking distance turning for home. Funkadelic (Kif Toh) was the first to collar the leader Cerdan (Matthew Chadwick) but as the latter rolled off, a saloon passage presented itself at the top of the straight, and Juglall needed no second invitation.
As Song To The Moon shot clear with a sizzling acceleration, the issue was put beyond doubt in no time. The Savabeel four-year-old raced away to a 1 ¼-length win from Energizer (Saifudin Ismail) with Funkadelic third another neck away. The winning time was 1min 24.29secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
“He’ll become a good stayer. He’s all quality,” was Shaw’s high praise of the Jubilant No 3 Stable-owned gelding.
“He was so green over 1200m at his debut. He never raced and as he’s pulled up well and there were no other 1400m races around, I thought that race would suit him.
“We’ve put the winkers on and he had more time to relax over more ground.”
Juglall jumped off giving an even bigger wrap on Song To The Moon.
“He’s still got plenty of scope about him, but he sure is a very nice horse. He was not 100% at his first run, but he has come on quickly,” said the in-form hoop.
“He’s quite a big horse and when a gap came up at the top of the straight, I dug him in there and I was quite surprised with the way he quickened inside the last 200m.
“A big thank you to the owner Mr Joshua Tan for putting me on his horse.”
The rich vein of form has seen both Juglall and Shaw climb up their respective ladder. With his score now reading 26 winners, Juglall has leapfrogged over John Powell and Michael Rodd to sit in eighth spot behind Oscar Chavez while Shaw is now a clear second on 49 winners, only five winners behind current leader Alwin Tan (54 winners).