One of two horses sold by Magic Millions contesting the Derby, Jupiter Gold proved full of running late in the race to streak past the favourite Elite Invincible in the straight. The other Magic Millions runner Lim’s Magic was a nose back in third.
The Derby win followed Friday night’s remarkable trifecta clean sweep result for juveniles purchased from last October’s Gold Coast 2YOs in Training Sale in the S$325,000 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe.
After a string of great runs in the lead up races, Jupiter Gold peaked on the right day to win one of Singapore’s richest and most prestigious events.
Jupiter Gold was ridden by Frenchman Olivier Placais and is prepared by Japanese horseman Hideyuki Takaoka.”I’m very happy Jupiter Gold won the Derby. He’s finally shown he was still the good horse we always believed he was,” Takaoka told reporters.
“The owners and myself have been frustrated with his loss of form, but he’s come back in form this year and to cap it all off, he is now a Derby winner.”
“Olivier is a hard-working and honest rider. We’ve had a lot of success together, we work hard together, and he gave the horse a great ride.”
“He was very confident before the race, probably more than me, and he’s delivered on it.”
Jupiter Gold, a son of Congrats, was bred and sold by Vinery Stud. He was purchased by connections for $130,000 at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Interestingly Jupiter Gold won two legs of the Golden Horseshoe series as a two-year-old and swept the Australian sold bonus after the final was run at Kranji.
Lim’s Lightning was the star on Friday night when he led home a one, two, three clean sweep for Magic Millions 2YOs in Training Sale buys in the S$325,000 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m).
At his first run for a month, Lim’s Lightning found the line strongly under Ryan Curatolo to give Australian conditioner Steven Burridge a third win in the race.
The winner, a son of Lope de Vega was bred and sold by Queensland’s Lynn Tipper after breezing twice on the Gold Coast for last year’s sale. He caught the eye of connections including Lim’s Stable racing manager Mick Dittman and with a $50,000 bid he was heading to Singapore.
Minor placegetters Galvarino (Stryker) and My Big Boss (Smart Missile) both ran eye catching races and look exciting prospects for the future for the Alwin Tan and Lee Freedman stables respectively.
In winning the race Lim’s Lightning collected a S$70,000 bonus for being an Australian sold runner in the final and with his previous win added to his earnings he’s pocketed prizemoney already of about S$300,000.
“The horse hadn’t run in a month,” a delighted Burridge said post-race. “We have to nurse him back to fitness.”
“Big thanks to my staff, my wife Julie of course, and also Richard Lim who has done a good job on him. He was quite a handful earlier and Richard has spent a lot of time educating him properly,” Burridge added.
Entries are currently rolling in for the 2018 edition of the Gold Coast Horses in Training Sale to be held on October 9 and 10.
PIC – Singapore Turf Club.
