3 minute read

My Horse continues to be a wonderful advertisement for rags-to-riches stories as far as equine investment goes.

After costing a mere A$4,500 to connections, the St Resources Stable, the Swiss Ace four-year-old made a rather plain start to his racing career in late 2016. But after that first trigger in Open Maiden company in April 2017, he suddenly hit his straps.

There has been the odd howler, but My Horse seldom put a foot wrong thereafter, going on to chalk up five wins and eight placings in 24 outings, with a bonanza of a quarter of a million dollars now sitting in his bank account.

The progression through his grades was no doubt not spectacular, but steady and honest enough to land himself three wins in Class 4 company, with the latest notch now carved at Class 3 level.

In the firing line from the word go, My Horse sprang to the front upon straightening, but First Choice (Barend Vorster), who had been in close attendance three wide all the while, was still giving pursuit down the middle.

My Horse, who was sent off the $18 joint-favourite with Yulong Fast Steed (Vlad Duric), looked on the ropes when First Choice headed him, but under hard riding from in-form jockey Nooresh Juglall, he slowly clawed his way back.

The duo locked horns for an edge-of-the-seat struggle that ultimately saw My Horse doggedly maintain his slender three-quarter-length advantage from First Choice with Southern Spur (Wong Chin Chuen) third another 1 ¾ lengths away. The winning time was 59.42 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.

“It’s really my luck and the owner’s luck to have a horse like this,” said Tan.

“He’s a horse that keeps improving and I think we have yet to see the best of him.

“Juglall knows this horse well. He won on him before and he’s done a good job with him.”

The Mauritian jockey said the relatively low draw (four) was a major swinging factor.

“The draw helped him. There was a fast pace in the race, but it suited him,” he said.

“He’s quite a limited horse. Things need to go his way, and tonight, everything worked to plan.

“I thought there wasn’t much left in the tank. But he really gave it to me.

“It’s quite amazing what he’s done as he was a cheap buy and he’s now won so much more for his owners.”