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After coming close a few times, Toosbies finally opened his account with a dominant win on Sunday.
Three times second and once third in seven previous starts, the Equiano three-year-old gave a strong indication that maiden win was not far away at that last second placing which came at his first-up 2019 run in a Restricted Maiden race over 1200m on February 1 when he led at a strong gallop only to be run down by Siam MP.
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange’s decision to have another crack at a similar event two weeks later paid instant dividends. Toosbies ($17) went one better with a no-nonsense hold-up run in the box-seat before quickly putting the race to bed once he straightened up for the judge.
The official margin was four lengths, but it could have been much wider had jockey Michael Rodd not turned off the ignition key by the 100m pole.
The battle for the minors was hotly disputed between the two Falcon Racing Stable runners Magnum Force (Daniel Moor) and Gamely (Wong Chin Chuen) with the former getting the nod by a nose. The winning time was 1min 10.95secs for the 1200m on the Long Course.
Le Grange said Toosbies’ win came as a welcomed tonic to the less than smooth passage at the stables over the last week.
“The stable had a rough week after we lost Majestic Moments on Tuesday. My jockey (Barend Vorster) is leaving and one is suspended (Nooresh Juglall),” said the South African handler.
“It’s a deserving win for the horse and a nice welcomed present for all, and at the same time, today is (assistant-trainer) Jacci’s (de Tert) birthday.”
Le Grange also had a few special words for the owner Rodney Too, a long-time supporter of ex-Kranji trainer fellow South African Theo Kieser.
“A big thank you to Rodney. After Theo gave up, he’s been nothing but a thorough gentleman to me, he never puts any pressure on me,” said Le Grange.
“Michael also rode a cracker of a race.”
The Australian jockey, who incidentally was the last winning partner of Majestic Moments (at his eighth win on June 24, 2018), said the ease of Toosbies’ win was probably flattering, but he certainly did his part in giving Toosbies every conceivable chance to shed his maiden status.
“This horse has got ability and he was facing a good quality Restricted Maiden race. There were some nice horses in it,” said Rodd.
“He won the race at the start, just from the way he began. I was able to get to the fence easily and he then switched off nicely.
“JP (John Powell on race-leader Mr O’Reilly) gave me something to follow. My horse has only a short sharp sprint, he just can’t sustain it, but once he rolled to the inside fence, he gave a great turn of foot today.”
With that first victory under the belt, Toosbies’ stakes earnings take a big hike to be within just a few thousand dollars from the $100,000 mark for Mr Too’s Griffin Stable.
