Monday, 3 December 2018: The drama-packed finish in Race 5 of the first Leg of the Air Mauritius & Attitude International Jockeys’ Weekend 2018 summed up the day of ups-and-downs for our Kranji boys on Saturday.

Singapore’s representative Troy See was first across the post in the Zilwa Attitude Cup on Ouzo with Kranji-based Mauritian jockey Nooresh Juglall second aboard Bonnie Prince for the perfect Singapore quinella.

Ouzo running in the THE ZILWA ATTITUDE CUP

See could not have dreamed of a more perfect 30th birthday present than a win at his first jockeys’ challenge, but the smiles were quickly wiped out (including those from the rapturous welcome he was greeted to by Ouzo’s connections at the lead-in) upon his return to scales.

Juglall had fired in a protest for alleged interference in the home straight. The head-on video did show there was a bit of a bumping duel between the two horses inside the last 100m and with the margin being only 0.05, Juglall’s objection was upheld.

Nooresh Juglall led back triumphantly aboard In Your Dreams.

It was heartbreak for See, more so when the double celebration was cruelly snuffed out after he had all but blown out his candles.

See still remained sporting, though. No jockey enjoys losing a race in the Stewards’ room, but he was glad it had gone to Juglall rather than someone else.

“I felt there was minimal contact with Nooresh’s horse, a bit of bumping, which happens in racing, and Nooresh never stopped riding,” said See.

“And his horse checked me at the line, and that should have squared it off. That was my main defence, but I lost.

“Still, I’d rather lose the race to him than anybody else. He may be Mauritian but he’s like one of ours.”

Juglall, who was at a race-to-race double after saluting earlier on board In Your Dreams, was a touch apologetic at the post-race interview. Jockeys don’t enjoy depriving their own kind of a win in the Stewards’ room, but all is fair in love and war, especially when every point counts in such challenges.

Bonnie Prince’s win added another nine points to pad up his score to 22 points to sit in second place behind hat-trick hero (Rap Attack, Varside and Good Buddy) Maxime Guyon (28 points). Juglall picked up nine points for In Your Dreams, two for a third on Fury and 1 ½ for dead-heating for third on Zodiac Jack.

“It was nice to have a fight with a colleague in Singapore. Maybe Troy will think about that for a long time as it’s his birthday today, I’m sorry Troy, it’s racing, but I’m also here to deliver the goods,” said Juglall.

“If you watch the head-on, at the top of the straight, we were quite clear of each other, but coming to the last 150m, he shifted into my horse and bumped my horse on numerous occasions.

“At the winning post, we got so tight, I had no room and my horse kinda stopped. It’s very hard for a horse to get bumped at the 150m and still fight to the line.

“I would have still won if there was a bit of room. The Stewards made the right decision.”

See may beg to differ, with the demotion costing him a higher spot in the leaderboard. He now has only six points, courtesy of his second place on Ouzo (four points) and a third place later in the last race (Red Indy: 2 points).

But with seven races left to go in the second Leg on Sunday, a 22-point difference may look like a large gulf to bridge, but it is not impossible, while the odds are definitely much shorter for Juglall.

The other jockeys to have got on the scoresheet are Chile’s Manuel Martinez (Chester’s Wish and Memphis Mafia) and India’s Akshay Kumar (Amritsar).

The standings after Leg 1 are as follows:

Jockeys   Country Points             1 Maxime Guyon   FRA   28 2 Nooresh Juglall   MAU   22 3 Manuel Martinez   CHL   21 4 Akshay Kumar   IND   10 4 Robbie Fradd   SA   10 6 Jameer Allyhosain   MAU   7 6 Mickaelle Michel   FRA   7 8 Seamie Heffernan   IRE   6 8 Troy See   SIN   6 9 Dwayne Dunn   AUS   4 9 Aurelien Lemaitre   FRA   4 9 Manoel Nunes   BRZ   4