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BIG MAVERICK (O'Reilly -
Ajfan by Woodman) ended a series of minor placings in the big races this
season to capture the Group 1 S$500,000 Raffles Cup over 1800m at Kranji
here today.
In chalking up his first
win of the season, the New Zealand gelding not only avenged his defeat to
WAIKATO in the Group 1 Kranji Mile last month, when he went down by three
quarters of a length, he also rewrote the course record with a time of
1:47.0, shaving 0.3 second off the previous mark set by Trigger Success last
year.
CHEYENNE DANCER (Indian
Danehill - Daylight Hour by Brief Truce), who finished third in that race,
also improved one spot to push WAIKATO (Pins - Skywalker Wilkes by
Skywalker) to third spot.
"He’s
always been thereabouts and it was just a matter of getting the right
breaks, and he got them today," said winning trainer Laurie Laxon. "He’s all
set for the Gold Cup now. The distance (2200m) is not a concern but the
handicap will be an issue."
As a four-year-old earlier
in the year, BIG MAVERICK had finished third to JOLIE'S SHINJU in the
Patrons' Bowl (1400m) and second to the same horse in the EMIRATES SINGAPORE
DERBY (2000m).
The win marked the third
consecutive season BIG MAVERICK had picked up a big race win. He was
victorious in the Stewards Cup in 2007 and last season, he took two legs of
the Three Year Old challenge along with the Group 2 E W Barker Trophy. But
this is his first Group 1 success.
The Raffles Cup win was BIG
MAVERICK's eighth in 23 starts, having been purchased by Laxon himself for
NZ$87,500 at the New Zealand Premier Yearling Sale.
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