By Alan Carasso
When Macarthur (Aus) (Charge Forward {Aus}) belied his inexperience to finish a good third in the Kranji Nursery S. (Cond.) at first asking Apr. 10, trainer Stephen Burridge toyed with the idea of sending him straight into stakes company in the Golden Horseshoe series for locally based juveniles. But connections ultimately decided on this decidedly softer spot for his second start and the gelding overcame a bit more greenness to open his account.
Carrying just 110 pounds as the only 2-year-old facing nine sophomores, the 6-5 favorite jumped beautifully and got across to lead comfortably before being taken on by the well-meant first-starter Lim's Dashing (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), the 7-5 second choice. Macarthur led narrowly entering the final quarter-mile and while Lim's Dashing–saddled with 126 pounds–tried to make a race of it late, the Queensland-bred youngster was always holding that one safe to the wire. It was a gap of another 3 1/2 lengths back to the well-tried Nova Legend (NZ) (Alamosa {NZ}) in third (video).
“I rode him in trackwork and he gave me a good feel. He's got ability and is a real racehorse, but he's still very green and still doesn't know what he's doing,” said winning rider Kasim A'Isisuhairi. “I wanted to slow up the pace and have someone come up to me to keep him focused but nothing really came along. But it's worked out good in the end. In the straight, I didn't pull the whip and waited till the other horse (Lim's Dashing) to come up. That was when he responded and gave a very nice turn of foot in the last 200m.”
With this maiden win safely tucked away, the Golden Horseshoe series now beckons.
“I would rather wait for the grass races of the series, but he's run well on Polytrack, too,” Burridge opined. “[Sunday] he ran on turf but it was more because of the low weight. I'll see how he pulls up and then make a decision.”
Four legs remain in the series, including the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale S. (1100m AWT) this coming Sunday. The first turf leg of the sequence is the IRT Juvenile S. (1200m) June 10. @EquinealTDN
Macarthur (Aus), g, 2, Charge Forward (Aus)–Mozambique (Aus), by Redoute's Choice (Aus). Kranji, 5-15, Restricted Maiden (A$75k), 1200mT, 1:10.66. B-Highgrove Stud & R T Gilbert (Qld). *Formerly Tribal (Aus). **A$65,000 RNA Ylg '15 MMGCYS.
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