Mandaloun back on track

Mandaloun held off a determined challenger to kick off the second half of his sophomore campaign with a win in the Listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday (13th June).

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 14th June 2021:

Sent off the 1-5 favorite while facing just four rivals, Mandaloun was squeezed back to last soon after the break and trailed the compact field as longshot Lugamo set a leisurely pace up front with Weyburn a threatening presence to his outside. Weyburn March, took command on the far turn, but Mandaloun was making progress of his own under energetic handling from jockey Florent Geroux.

The bay colt charged into the lane with a three-wide move and, despite being floated out farther on the track as Weyburn drifted at the top of the stretch, looked set to power clear to an easy victory. But he seemed to idle in deep stretch as Weyburn re-rallied to just miss catching the favourite in the final jumps.

"We didn't expect that [being pinched at the start]," said winning trainer Brad Cox. "We thought he might be on the lead or tracking a couple. We found ourselves last going into the first turn. But overall it was a big effort. I think he closed into a soft pace. He probably had to start his run a touch early given the fact that he was last. He ran a big race."

Jockey Florent Geroux added: "He was nice and relaxed during the race. It was nice to see that he was able to settle down and everything worked out great. The important thing was not to rush him too hard [after the start]. I had a lot of horse. He was passing horses one by one."