3 minute read
Mauritian jockey Nooresh Juglall had been feeling a bit “toey” about hitting that 200th win milestone for about a month, but the long wait was finally over when a fantastic four-timer took him over the line and beyond on Friday night.
Juglall and many others thought he would have pulled off the landmark win earlier when a brace with Song To The Moon and Hooga Net on July 1 edged him closer on 198 winners.
But to his sheer frustration, he went through six meetings without winning. A flurry of seconds unfortunately don’t add up to a win.
At the Korea Racing Authority Trophy meeting on July 22, he was harbouring hopes it would coincide with a double happiness - his 27th birthday and a win with Rafaello, the same horse who handed him his first century (100 wins) on August 21, 2016 in a feature race for good measure, the Group 3 Garden City Trophy (1400m).
It wasn’t to be. Rafaello could only finish second to Skywalk in the KRA Trophy, and his other rides did not fare any better.
With his wife Chaaya due to give birth to their first child in Mauritius very soon, Juglall had already planned to head home on August 18. He had only five meetings left if he wanted to hop on the plane with the record already under the belt.
Looking at his book of seven rides on Friday, Juglall had a good hunch it was this time or never – and he got more than he bargained for. When it rains, it pours, really.
The Young Keah Yong-trained Berlinetta ($24), his first ride in the opener, the $20,000 Class 5 (1600m) took him to one win shy. His next ride My Win was scratched while longshot Military Might, raced by Thai outfit Kajorn Petch Stable, ran sixth in Race 3.
Juglall had much better luck with the other Kajorn Petch Stable ward Cadet ($21) at his next ride in the $80,000 Class 3 Division 2 race over 1000m. He could fly home with the double century in his suitcase, and get ready for that much bigger event in his life - fatherhood.
But all good things seem to come in fours for Juglall, with Zac Ace ($22) handing the former two-time South African champion apprentice jockey a three-timer in the next race, the $45,000 Class 4 Non Premier race over 1600m before Mokastar ($33) wrapped up the memorable night with a fourth win in the $100,000 Class 2 race over 1000m.
The last three winners are all trained by Juglall’s main supporter, Ricardo Le Grange.
“I’ve been waiting for a while for this second milestone. The first 100 came with Rafaello in the Group 3 race and I’ve got another 100 in Singapore with Cadet tonight,” said a beaming Juglall.
“To get four is the icing on the cake. I’d like to dedicate this 200th win to my mum and dad back home, my wife and of course my new baby.
“I still have another three meetings before I fly out on August 18. So, hopefully, I can ride a few more winners before I go, there’ll be one more mouth to feed soon!”
Of his milestone provider Cadet, Juglall deflected all the credit to Le Grange and his assistant-trainer Jacci de Tert.
“Ricardo and Jacci have looked after this horse like he was their own child, and it’s great he bounced back to winning form at his first race back tonight,” said Juglall who, with that four-timer, consolidated his fourth place on 35 winners, 12 behind leader Vlad Duric.
“He won quite comfortably considering there were a lot of fit horses in the race. Ricardo does a great job with his horses before he brings them to the races, he makes sure they’re 110 per cent fit.
“This horse has a big heart and big thanks to the owner as well.”
While Le Grange credited Juglall for a great ride on the Captain Sonador five-year-old, the lion’s share of his compliments was directed at his indefatigable right-hand woman, de Tert.
“This horse has had so many problems. He had knee chips, but the owner never put any pressure on me, they’ve been very patient and left it to me to decide what to do with their horse,” said the South African handler.
“But a massive thank you goes to Jacci. She spends every single day with this horse, doing physio work on him.
“She’s the one who brought this horse back to the races. It was a huge win from such a long layoff (250 days).”
Cadet has now taken his record to four wins and two placings from 13 starts for stakes earnings around the $175,000 mark for the Kajorn Petch Racing No 3 Stable.
In a striking position from the off, the Thai-owned gelding easily mastered fading favourite First Choice (Daniel Moor) upon straightening before steadfastly holding his ground to the wire, half-a-length clear of big outsider ($287) Astrojet (Shafrizal Saleh) with another smokie ($196) Ottawa (Alan Munro) third another length away. The winning time was 59.54 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.
