Buick brilliance secures title for ROTW team
BY HOWARD WRIGHT IN MAURITIUS 1:35PM 4 DEC 2011
Report: Mauritius, Sunday
Champ de Mars: International jockeys' challenge
WILLIAM BUICK'S third winner of the weekend in Mauritius on Sunday was crucial in maintaining the Rest of the World's lead in the points-based, four-team international jockeys' challenge staged by the Mauritius Turf Club at Champ de Mars racecourse.
The team of Buick, Corey Brown and team captain Imran Chisty, who alternates between his native India and Mauritius, scraped home by 63 points to 60 from the trio of local jockeys, who did themselves andthe enthusiastic crowd proud.
The Rest of the World squad's commanding position at the start of the card, after doubles apiece for Buick and Brown on Saturday, had been whittled down by the fifth leg of seven but Buick had been given orders to make the running if possible on Prince Of Troy in the 1m event and he carried them out to the letter.
Quickly into his stride, Prince Of Troy had sufficient left in the tank not only to hold Olivier Peslier's fast-finishing mount Honour In Gold but also to complete a celebratory lap of honour of the 6½f circuit.
Buick, who returned to an ecstatic reception from the crowd, said: "The trainer [Paul Foo Kune] gave me the right instructions on Saturday and he's done it again.
"You can read the form and you get a feel of the horse from riding him, but you need a little extra when you're riding unfamiliar horses and the trainer provided it."
The European team of Frankie Dettori, Stephane Pasquier and Olivier Peslier, who had considerable ground to make up at the start of the final session, pulled themselves into contention in the opening leg with a one-two, although not in the order of betting, and quickly climbed on to the heels of leaders Rest of the World by winning the second.
Frankie Dettori: failed to win
PICTURE: Edward Whitaker/racingpostpix.com
Dettori, who was winnerless from a largely disappointing batch of ten rides, rode favourite Royal Ransom in the 7½f opener but Peslier grabbed an early lead and stayed there. Hard though Dettori drove his mount in the short straight, he could not make up the ground and was beaten half a length.
The distance was even narrower - 0.02 of a length on the MTC's precision-driven scale - when Pasquier got himself on the winner's roster on Pegasus Legacy over an extended 6f.
Almost the width of the course separated him from the leader as he got up in the last few strides to win by the narrowest margin.
Team Mauritius made up lost ground when Karis Teetan on Casey's War mugged Corey Brown, riding all-the-way leader Bolting Cat for the Rest of the World, almost on the line in a 7½f event.
And there was further encouragement for local racing when the team of past champions got on the winner's board for the first time in Saturday's third leg, as current title-holder Robbie Burke stole through on the inside on Capitaine and collared Modern Monet and Team Mauritius captain Rye Joorawon close home to win by half a length.
The champions had less time to wait to double their tally of winners, when Glen Hatt, the winning-most jockey in Mauritian racing history, produced Sniper with a late rattle in an extended 9f event to give the Foo Kune stable's fifth winner of the weekend.
The last race, over 1m, sent the chanting crowd home happy as leading local-born Rye Joorawon ended the two-day meeting as he began, with a winner that sealed second place for his team.
But it was not enough to catch the flying scratch team of Buick, Brown and Chisty.
Final scores:
1 Rest of the World (Imran Chisty, William Buick, Corey Brown) 63pt
2 Team Mauritius (Rye Joorawon, Karis Teetan, Jeannot Bardottier) 60
3 Europe (Frankie Dettori, Stephan Pasquier, Olivier Peslier) 54
4 Past Champions (Glen Hatt, Robbie Burke, Karl Neisius) 49
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