John Murtagh to ride Saigon for the Emaar Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday
John Murtagh will be riding James Toller trained and P C J Dalby and R D Schuster owned Saigon for the Emaar Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday. The two-year-old has raced five times this season which actually is his first one to race. He broke
his maiden on 30th June with Kirsty Milczarek who has been riding him ever since then.
The race just after the maiden was at Newbury on 15th July which Saigon won and also put an end to his wins this season till yet.
It has only been twice that he and his jockey have won and this race provides the horse to post a third victory to his record, the only change being that this time against Saigon’s name would be J Murtagh.
In the last two races Saigon has been coming third.
On 3rd September, Kempton had seven participants in it with Brian Meehan’s Shumoos on Martin Dwyer being the first and Mark Johnston’s Vocational being second with Kirsty Milczarek coming third.
Saigon held up in last pair, ridden and outpaced over two furlong out, driven two furlong out, sixth and looked well held over one furlong out, went headway just inside the final furlong. For the remaining 100 yards he ran on strongly but could not really
reach, let alone pressurize the leaders.
The race also had two entries from Richard Hannon, Crown Dependency that came fifth with Dane O’Neill and Pearl Charm finishing in the end with Jim Crowley.
A William Haggas's entry, Heeraat, came sixth in the race with Shane Kelly.
Next time when Saigon managed third was at the Newbury on 17th September which was effectively the last time this season that he raced.
Again with the same jockey, he chased the leaders, was ridden a pace and two furlong out, geared and went under pressure to take the second final 100 yards but as was the case in the last race, there was no impression or impact on the leader.
It was Alan McCabe’s Caspar Netscher who won the race with Kieren Fallon and Richard Hannon’s Redact was the second to win the race. He again raced Crown dependency that came seventh under Jimmy Fortune on a field of nine contenders.
"Saigon has come out of his last race and seems in very good form. I hope the ground remains on the fast side as he has shown his best form on top of the ground”, said Toller.
"It is a tough race, but I think he deserves to take his chance and he will definitely have an each-way chance. We have booked Johnny Murtagh for the ride - you need the best in these races”.
The connections, specially the trainer has seen to it that the horse gets the best that is available while participating in the race thus they opted for the dynamic and versatile J Murtagh who has raced many winners through the finish line, the race will
tell if Saigon will be one to get added to the winners that fall under J Murtagh’s name.
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