Ultra-impressive Mr Malek will go far
Remember this name, Mr Malek - this equine youngster is destined for better things.
The Lee Freedman-trained and Oscar Racing Stable-owned three-year-old was ultra impressive when scoring second-up on Sunday, annihilating his Restricted Maiden rivals by 43/4 lengths.
His time of 1min 09.66sec was equally remarkable, but it was the way he routed his opposition that was spell-binding.
Jockey Patrick Moloney took a seat in fourth on the rail after jumping well from pole position. Supermax led and set a flying tempo, clocking 23.69sec for the first 400m.
Mr Malek moved up nicely to third just before the home straight and second on seeing daylight. Supermax led by two lengths and drifted in. Moloney angled Mr Malek out for a clear run. Responding brilliantly, Mr Malek knocked out Supermax 200m out and zoomed away.
"He won well. He's a horse with a future," said Freedman. "Joe Azzopardi did a lot of work on him but could not ride him today and Pat did a good job. Joe has a good opinion of him.
"When he first came up from New Zealand, he was a real terror. He would jack up and drop nearly every jockey. So Joe took him under his wings and got him going really good."
Said Moloney: "I think he's a pretty nice horse. I was lucky to gallop him during the week and he was one of the nicest horses I've galloped since I've been here."
TAN THEAN LOON
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