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Meagher's Kuda shows Cat who is the Boss

3 minute read

After knocking on the door for a while, Watch Out Boss duly punched out his first win at his ninth start in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1100m on Friday night.

Watch Out Boss winning the CLASS 4
Watch Out Boss winning the CLASS 4 Picture: Singapore Turf Club

The Bullet Train four-year-old had always shown he was not without ability even during his early racing days when he was known as Kuda Bagus.

If there was a thought the original moniker (which means 'good horse' in Malay) might have backfired, trainer Daniel Meagher for one went for a change of name when he bought over the horse in partnership with a friend.

After a fast-finishing third and fourth under Meagher's former apprentice jockey Chin Chee Seng served as warning signs the Boss was close to a breakthrough, Meagher's favourite jockey Benny Woodworth finally stepped up and found the winning formula.

Favourite Tom Cat (Vlad Duric) looked to have the race all stitched up when he straightened up on his lonesome against the rails, but softened up by Mach (Ben Thompson) throughout the speed scamper, he got the wanders inside the last furlong.

Watch Out Boss  ($34) still spotted the leaders around five lengths 300m out, but once Woodworth clicked him up for another gear, he just kept unwinding on the outside.

Like a true son of Bullet Train, Watch Out Boss motored past Tom Cat to go and score a soft win with 1 ¾ lengths to spare. To illustrate the superiority of the first two, third place went to Ka Chance (Zawari Razali) another gap of four lengths astern. The winning time was 1min 4.58secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.

Meagher said Watch Me Boss has been a work in progress for a long time, but he was glad he had finally got to the bottom of him.

"It's been frustrating. I own him with a good friend of mine, so it's good to see him win that race tonight," said the Australian trainer.

"I think sprinting is his go. He's by Bullet Train, but he's a bit of a different character.

"We freshened him up, gave him two trials and they were very quiet trials, he didn't do much. Now, he comes out with blinkers on and did that.

"Hopefully we can step him up a little bit and let him go through his class. He needs the speed to be on in his races, and that turn of foot helped.

"We have got lots of people from Australia here tonight, so it's good to get the win."

Woodworth said all the credit should be deflected to Meager and his staff.

"Credit to Daniel and his racing stable. He prepared the horse very well tonight," said the Malaysian jockey, who with that solitary win versus leader Vlad Duric's two wins (Our Showcase and Destroyer Eclipse), has now slid down the ladder by one more winner – 13-win margin.

"This horse has been very unlucky in many starts. He looked the winner and just got beat.

"This time, I pulled him out and he just ran past the favourite (Tom Cat) easy. He was also more settled on the way to the barriers, normally he would be a bit naughty."

The start of the race actually saw another wayward horse, Julius Caesar, parting company with his rider, Louis-Philippe Beuzelin.

The French jockey, who was complaining of back pain, was stood down from his last ride Coming Through ($18), who went on to win the last race, the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1100m with replacement rider Joseph See.

Beuzelin, who won one race earlier aboard Prime Time (see earlier report) was later sent to the nearest hospital for X-rays. More details on his condition will be given once they become available.

After hitting top form in recent weeks, especially in combination with trainer Michael Clements, the English-trained jockey has unfortunately ended his first Singapore season on a sour note. Last week, he copped two suspensions for careless riding, effectively ruling him out for the remaining season until the start of the 2020 season, with that Friday fall compounding his misery further.

He is booked on five rides at his last 2019 meeting on Sunday, but his status as a starting jockey will depend on his diagnosis.


Singapore Turf Club

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