3 minute read

It could well have been a case of “Nowyousee” it, now you don’t, after Ricardo Le Grange’s short-priced favourite was plagued by a litany of woes in Sunday’s second-last race.

Backed down to $6 just minutes before the off, the impressive debut winner, however, saw those odds drift into $7 during the delay caused by Lim’s Sincere (William Pike) bursting through his inside gate and proving fractious before getting reloaded.

Nowyousee, himself not a model of zen at the best of times, was getting all skittish in his barrier No 4 with the starter having to hang fire for so long. Like a knock-on effect, an awkward jump followed by heels clipping compounded matters further, but his class saved the day.

With a blinkered Lim’s Sincere railing like a greyhound from his inside alley to ensure a solid tempo at the head of affairs, the field was fairly strung out. As a result, Nowyousee was able to recover from his horror start to settle worse than midfield, and improve along the rails to be in a striking position upon straightening.

At the point of the turn, the O’Reilly three-year-old still spotted Lim's Sincere, who was then locking horns with Crazy Dreams (Benny Woodworth), about four lengths, which after factoring in his bungled start, looked like a tall order for him to bridge.

But under hard riding from Juglall, Nowyousee cranked up his engine to go and wear down his two rivals with every stride to beat Lim’s Sincere by half-a-length with Crazy Dreams another nose away in third. The winning time was 59.05 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.

“Everything went against him today. He stayed so long in the barriers; granted, all were in the same boat,” said Le Grange.

“He got all stirred up, but they rolled along at a good clip upfront, and that helped him settle in the run. Despite the high-pressure race, Nooresh rode him patiently and I’ve always said it’s very hard for a young horse to race in open company and win.

“He’s winning on raw ability now. We still have to take him back home and do some work on him, but I won’t break his speed, and will keep him to 1000m races for now.

“A big well done to Jeff (Soh of Titanium Racing) and his dad as they’ve been in this game for a long time and they deserve every success that comes their way.”

Juglall, who was notching win No 50 for the year, said he thought he was a goner after everything went pear-shaped at the start. To the Mauritian jockey, a lesser horse would have come a cropper in the face of such adversity.

“He’s a machine, this horse. Another horse would have lost the race with all the problems he had at the start,” he said.

“He was all uptight before the gates opened, then he clipped heels as he came out of the gates.

“But his class saw him through. It looks easy, but this horse has got his character. Like they say, good horses make good jockeys.

“It’s such a pleasure to come out every morning and sit on this type of horse. I’d like to thank Jeff and Ricardo for putting me on such a good horse.”

Unbeaten in two outings, Nowyousee has raked home stakes earnings around the $75,000 mark for the Titanium Racing Stable.