Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Troublesome hooves have blighted the career of Soho Shakedown, who resumed after a spell in fine style with a smart first-up victory in the $25,00 HTA Reaching For The Top Free-For-All over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
The inexperienced four-year-old gave trainer Kim Prentice and reinsman Mitch Miller a double in successive events, following the win of Soho Moonraker in the 2130m HTA Taking You To New Heights Pace.
Miller was delighted with Soho Shakedown’s victory on the comeback trail and said: “For him to come back from basically 12 months off and into Free-For-All company is pretty promising, and hopefully we can keep him fit and happy, with the Golden Nugget (November 6) the main target for him.
“The plan is to race him sparingly, and if we get him there in one piece, he will be a serious contender, which is exciting.
“He is very lightly raced because he has had bad feet. We lost pretty much all of his three-year-old season last year when he lost half of one of his front hooves, and it took six to seven months to grow back. It was a shame because he would have been a Derby horse.
“We tried to build up the foot with putty, and a couple of times we thought he was ready to go to the races, and he would go sore again. He has had really slow growing feet, and this is the first time he has had a full hoof over the past 18 months. He wears bar shoes to stop the hoof from spreading and opening up.”
Soho Shakedown was the $1.90 favourite from the No. 1 barrier on Friday night when he was smartest into stride and set a brisk pace to win by a metre from $7.50 chance Lucca, who fought on gamely after racing without cover. Soho Shakedown rated a smart 1.55.4 after quarters of 29.9sec., 28.8sec., 28.5sec. and 28.9sec. This took Soho Shakedown’s record to eleven starts for eight wins, one second and $70,343.
Thirty-five minutes earlier Soho Moonraker was a $6.80 chance who began out wide at barrier No. 9 and dashed to the front after 400m and sprinted over the final quarters in 28.3sec. and 28.5sec. to win by a half-length from the $1.90 favourite Sweet Coco, rating 1.56.3.
“We chanced our luck off the arm, thinking we could get a spot somewhere, and it all worked out beautifully,” said Miller. “When he is able to lead, he rarely gets beaten even though he flops over the final 50 metres. He has done that a few times and still held on.”
Soho Moonraker, a six-year-old by boom sire Sweet Lou, has been a handy performer for his owner-breeder Rob Watson, earning $125,129 from ten wins and 11 placings from 49 starts.
Watson, who also bred and owns Soho Shakedown, enjoyed a third victory on Friday night when his three-year-old Soho Piastri, trained and driven by Mick Stanley, scored an effortless victory in 1.52.9 over 1609m at Newcastle. The gelding is out of Watson’s Mach Three mare Angel Bromac, who was driven by Prentice in her 14 starts in WA for four wins and five placings in 2016 and 2017 before being retired to the breeding barn.