Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Mauritius News - Hatt's off to a good start

Lance Benson
CAPE based jockey Glen Hatt launched his 2009 Mauritius campaign on a successful note at the Champ de Mars last Saturday with a brilliant double which included a feature race victory on the former Shane Humby trained Military Might in the Raoul Halbwachs Cup. Hatt grabbed first run on the favourite, The Cardinal, at about the 400m mark and his move proved to be a shrewd and decisive one as he stayed on to hold off Gauteng rider Sherman Brown on the favourite, in a race which Brown would probably rather forget.
Mauritius 2009 has been the worst start to any season for Brown, who married his sweetheart, former jockey, Danny Mcreedy on the Indian Ocean Island in December. After being fined Rs 100 000 (R26,217) and suspended for three weeks at the first meeting two weeks ago, he once again incurred the wrath of the Stipendiary Stewards for his ride on the Fok-trained favourite in the feature race
He was found guilty of contravening the local Jockey Club rules 160(i) and 160 in that he failed to ride The Cardinal to the satisfaction of the Stewards. Apparently after jumping well in the 1 365m event, he made insufficient effort to get onto the rails immediately.
As such he only crossed to the rail at the 1 150m mark, thus, in the opinion of the Stewards, obliging his mount to cover unnecessary ground. It was also held that he reduced his opportunity to improve in the final stages by allowing Champ In Action to improve on his outside and to cross in front of him - this after he was deemed to have made insufficient effort to maintain his position one-wide and to the outside of Hatt’s mount Military Might at the 600m mark.
While his first meeting fine and suspension is under appeal against the severity of sentence, Brown would not have been thrilled to now have been slapped with a further Rs100 000 (R26,217) fine and another four week holiday and speculation is rife on the island that he will return home to Johannesburg in due course.
On a more positive note, after uncertainty over his work permit threatened to delay his seasonal debut, Glen Hatt was quick to open his account for the Perdrau stable when booting home the fancied Great Masterpiece in only his second local ride of 2009.
He followed this up with a great tactical ride on Military Might and this combination, although only enjoying the benefit of a relatively small string, could well be one to follow in the months ahead. Ricky Maingard’s former Capetonian Place On The Bay also broke his Mauritius duck after two long years by winning the second race under Christian Hanotel and now that he has regained some confidence, he could be a horse to monitor after a typical bridesmaid spate of consistent close-up efforts.
French jockey Guy Faucon continued his dream start to the season with a Serge Henry double on the former Brett Crawford trained Lizard Island gelding Gecko Dream in the fifth race and then rode a brilliant race to scrape home on Icelandic in the last race of the day. This rounded off another healthy Pick 6 dividend of R18 833 to just 3,76 winning tickets.

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