News

Juglall pulls the right strings on Twodollarmuppet for early birthday present

21st Jul 2014

Singapore Turf Club - Michael Lee - Sunday, 21 July 2014

Mauritian jockey Nooresh Juglall received an early birthday present when he drove Twodollarmuppet to a resounding victory in the $75,000 Perth Racing Trophy (1200m) on Polytrack on Sunday.

The young man, who turns 23 on Tuesday, was grinning from ear to ear shortly after he secured his fifth winner at only his fifth week in Kranji since arriving from Mauritius, buoyed no doubt with having young bride Chaaya to celebrate with him the happy occasion at the winner’s circle.

Juglall was also pleased with himself for another reason. The win always tastes even sweeter when you pull the right rein, and he did exactly that as far as getting on the right horse from trainer Michael Clements’ duo in the race for Restricted Maidens was concerned. Despite riding Easing Along three-year-old Good Mission to a sound fifth in a 1400m race at his last start, Juglall decided to switch to the younger of the pair instead, two-year-old Twodollarmuppet, principally on account of his postage stamp of 50kg.

“I’d like to thank Mr Clements for giving me the chance to choose between the two horses. Good Mission was a good ride too, but as Twodollarmuppet had a light weight, I opted for him instead,” said Juglall on the way he dealt with the dilemma.

“I had to waste hard to make the weight, but thank god it’s paid off. Mr Clements was actually quite confident before the race.

“There wasn’t much pace to the race and he was travelling on the bit throughout. At the home turn, I thought of going to the inside, but I thought he might be crowded, and stayed on the outside instead. The light weight helped and he scored a very gutsy win in the end.”

Twodollarmuppet ($27) took a drop on the early playmakers from the off, settling in sixth spot one off the rails, but charged home once Juglall lifted him at the 300m, swamping late to get the better of Racer King (Zuriman Zulkifli) by half-a-length with Exciting Prospect (Manoel Nunes) hanging on for third another short head away. The winning time was 1min 13.83secs.

Juglall, whose wife was given the honour of receiving the trophy at the prize-giving ceremony, predicted there were a lot more wins to come from the quirkily-named son of Henrythenavigator.

“He needs more ground too, but it was still a decent win over this trip and I think he’s got a bright future here,” said Juglall.

“Good Mission (who was given to Barend Vorster) ran very well too (fourth). After I last rode him, I felt he needed more ground and the 1200m might be a bit short for him today. There is a win for him soon.”

Clements was certainly on the same wavelength with the rider regarding the path Sven Johnson’s juvenile’s career should be charted down.

“His first run was very good. He’s always shown he wanted further,” said the Zimbabwean-born conditioner.

“He drew a good barrier today and was well in at the weights. As there was not a lot of speed to the race, he showed enough pace to travel right behind them and he did a good job to finish over the top of them in the straight.”

On Juglall, who came up short astride the well-backed debutant Bravo Charlie in the earlier Restricted Maiden race over 1200m when second to Wow, Clements had nothing but words of praise.

“Nooresh is a neat rider. He’s still young and will definitely do well here as long as he gets the good rides,” said Clements.

On that note, the former two-time South African champion apprentice jockey nodded and agreed there were no two ways about it for any rider – no ride, no chance.

“Things have been going well for me since I came to Singapore. I’m grateful for the support I’ve received from both the trainers and the owners from Day-1,” he said.

“If you don’t have the right horse underneath you, you are not going to succeed. I would like to thank my wife Chaaya for being my main supporter and everybody else who have supported me as well as my fans here.”

The day got even better later in the proceedings when Juglall and Clements recombined to bag a winning double with $261 smokie Spinning Success in the $38,000 Australian Turf Club Trophy, a Kranji Stakes D race over 1700m.

Beginning from the widest gate, Spinning Success (x Spinning World) was sooled to the front by Juglall before dropping anchor down the back. The swoopers made their intentions clear upon straightening, but Juglall had rated the race well and the Success Stable-owned galloper kicked clear to score by three parts of a length in 1min 47.93secs.