Nowyousee he's not one-dimensional
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange's exciting sprinter overcomes setback to win on raw ability
For a horse who has won three trials and his debut with his sheer speed to start almost last and seen hunting to catch up, it would certainly give his backers an anxiety attack.
More so when the horse was the raging $7 favourite.
At that point, those who backed him would have thought their money was as cold as ice.
But Nowyousee showed great will and tenacity to recover from the setback to snatch victory near the line in Race 9 at Kranji on Sunday to stay unbeaten in both trials and races.
What racecaller Matthew Jones said was true: to do what he did second-up like this was pure talent.
By winning from the back, Nowyousee has also proven that he isn't a one-dimensional galloper, the traits of a good thoroughbred.
The problem of it all on Sunday started with $26 second-favourite Lim's Sincere bursting through his stall and it took a bit of time to reload the gelding.
Horses tend to lose focus waiting too long in claustrophobic space and Nowyousee was caught on the back foot when the gates finally opened.
The Ricardo Le Grange-trained three-year-old was expected to lead but he turned out to be one of the last to jump.
Lim's Sincere kicked from the inner-most barrier to lead under Perth champion William Pike, followed by Crazy Dreams.
Nowyousee was plodding in midfield, several lengths in arrears, but jockey Nooresh Juglall was wise enough to give his mount a breather.
Lim's Sincere led into the straight but was quickly covered by Crazy Dreams.
Nowyousee, travelling on the shortest route home, moved up third to go after the leaders.
For a moment, it looked like the A$170,000 (S$174,000) purchase was unlikely to catch up on the stubborn leaders.
But Juglall persevered and drove Nowyousee to hit the front in the final 50m to win by half a length. Lim's Sincere held on to beat Crazy Dreams for second by a nose.
The winning time was 59.05sec for the flying 1,000m on the Polytrack, quite good for a second-up effort in Class 4.
Nowyousee had won his debut in an easy Restricted Maiden company in 58.39sec over the course and distance on Oct 20.
Juglall said Nowyousee was getting a bit uptight while waiting in his stall and was full of praise for his winning partner.
"He has proven to me today he's such a nice horse," said the Mauritian rider.
"Everything went wrong for him. We stood in the gates for a long time and he was getting a bit uptight.
"Before the gate on the other horse broke through, I clicked him already to get him ready for the start, you know, and maybe the second time I clicked him, he got a bit of a slack.
"He clipped heels coming out of the gates and everything just went wrong for him, but you could see he is just a small horse and, like I've said, a good horse makes a good jockey.
"He's got character and I'm just glad he passed the line today, and proved himself to be a nice horse."
Le Grange was also rapt with Nowyousee's gutsy show.
"A lot of things went against us, you know, having to stand in the barriers for such a long time, granted all of them were in the same boat," he said.
"Once he got shuffled back, Nooresh rode him a bit more patiently. They went at a good clip. So it's hard, I believe, for a young horse to step up into Class 4 open company but he has come through with flying colours.
"Well, I think he just won on raw ability. I don't think he's the finished product. I think he could be an exciting horse for the future."
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