3 minute read

Sweet success for The Mareeba Mango

Talented The Mareeba Mango  outclassed his rivals in his second outing of the year to capture the Class 3 – 1200m handicap at Sungei Besi here today.

The son of Snitzel, who was placed once in three starts at two and three in his native Australia, has been plagued by leg issues after a promising start in Singapore in 2020 where he had a win and second in as many starts at Kranji.

He then spent 17 months, including the whole of the 2021 season, on the sidelines before finishing first-up fourth in Malaysia in January last year.

Following that, The Mareeba Mango was out for another nine months.

A change of trainer to Simon Dunderdale saw him with came back and scored in two consecutive starts last November. But another enforced break followed, and subsequently another change of trainer to Richard Lines in February this year.

The Mareeba Mango tried to make all the running in his latest comeback in a Class 3 – 1075m sprint on the No. 2 track here two months ago but went down second to the up-and-coming PROOF PERFECT who went on to contest the Penang Sprint Trophy last Sunday.

With apprentice Cheah Wei Wen in the saddle once again today, The Mareeba Mango jumped well and led the proceedings early.

He was headed by a line of three horses, headed by  Zanjabeel   approaching the 600m, and they stepped up the tempo. Cheah kept The Mareeba Mango handy on the rails and the pair eventually moved up second to follow Zanjabeel  home.

The Mareeba Mango raced past Zanjabeel  passing the 400m and shot clear with 250m to go. He went on to win as he liked by three and three-quarter lengths from Hadeer .

"He is a very talented horse and he has improved from his first start (with me)," after a break said Lines. "He has had leg issues in the past so it was nice to run on a beautiful track today."

Jockey Cheah said: "They went fast today and I had a good seat, making them work around me. In the straight, we just kicked away."