Bring Money Home
Singapore Turf Club
| Michael Rodd labelled Bring Money Home's winning effort as "remarkable" after he steered him to another one of his tradesman wins on Sunday. The race looked lost when the Australian jockey was seen giving the noted one-batter a few smacks from the 800m as they started to drop back while the rest were moving the opposite way in the $80,000 Hortpark Stakes, a Class 3 race over 1600m. But the Mr Nancho five-year-old just has this amazing knack of finding another gear when he is on the ropes. After pinching the lead from Gold Peregrine (Derreck David) midrace, Brilliant Deal (Alan Munro) could not go on with the job upon straightening, but Chase (Olivier Placais) looked to have the race at his mercy when he took over at the top of the straight. But Chase also started to shorten up at the 250m. Terms Of Reference (Barend Vorster) was at that point looking the sharpest, but Bring Money Home, that same horse who was back-pedalling had suddenly come back in full contention. Raising another gear or two, he stuck his neck in front at the 200m, and under Rodd's strong handling, held off all comers to seal a half-length win from Terms Of Reference. Squire Osbaldeston (Vlad Duric) charged home late from the ruck to finish third another neck away, just beating Chase to third place by a head. The winning time was 1min 40.56secs for the 1600m on the Polytrack. "It was a remarkable run! You just don't see that happening, especially for a horse going back at 1600m," said Rodd, full of admiration of the gutsy win. "I've ridden him before and he's got such a big heart. He was going nowhere at the 800m but once I started to get stuck into him, he got on the bit again. "He was laying in but he really stuck it out. What a brave win!" To winning trainer Tan Hor Khoon, he had no doubt who won the race – Rodd. "Michael is strong with the left hand and that's why we picked him for this horse," said Tan. "He lays in all the time, and only a strong rider like Michael can get him to stay straight. I thought he was gone at the 700m, but when he started to warm up again, I knew he would be right there." Bring Money Home, who was backed down to $15 favouritism, has now returned in excess of $270,000 in stakes to his owners, the Happy Life Stable. He was a graduate of Esker Lodge's 2013 Ready to Run Sale draft. |