A stunning effort by SIMPLY MING to fly home from the back of the field to finish third in the BN 78 955m Jeep 55 Challenge Heat at Moonee Valley last night, Friday 20th November.
Superbly ridden by Patrick Moloney (who, incidentally, outrode his apprentice claim on the night too) he let her jump mid-field and then allowed her to settle to balance up.
She was held up for a run at a crucial stage but when he did manage to angle her out to come home down the outside of the field, her burst of acceleration was blinding, clocking up the fastest sectionals by a country mile.
As Patrick said, the rail being out probably cost her the win, as it had been a leader’s track for all the earlier races and it certainly didn’t give backmarkers any hope at all.
She was beaten a short head and half a head and would have covered a couple of lengths angling out as she had to, so a great effort and her owners are looking forward to seeing her salute the judge once again in the not too distant future.
Simply Ming has been the most consistent competitor, winning 5 of her 19 starts to date, running 2nd and 3rd 4 times each and finishing further back than 5th only 4 times, earning $74,365 in the process.
It would be lovely to have a team full of racehorses like her and our special congratulations to have lovely group of owners who have been so patient with this wonderful mare.