All you really want is a moment. That one moment during the race when you think it’s possible, when the race is in the balance and your horse is in the mix. A shout. A rush. A moment.
Imarajan gave us that in his hurdle debut at Fairyhouse Wednesday. Turning for home, heading to the second-to-last, he was there, creeping into it, just on the coattails of the eventual winner. As quickly as it had come, it vanished. He jumped. We gasped. An awkward short spot at the second-to-last sealed his position and he finished fourth. It was a solid debut. He’s not the most natural jumper, not the most precocious. He jumped deliberately yesterday, always on that short spot and the second-to-last was too short and too fast. No problem. Probably a blessing in the long run and hopefully he’ll improve.
“I thought we could have won that. He surprised me how forward and well he jumped early on and in the main,” co-trainer Patrick Harty said. “The jockey said he was moving really nicely on the ground, he was surprised how strong he traveled and well he jumped on the ground, just when the pace really quickened and he needed a couple of big jumps, that’s when he wasn’t in love with that ground. It wouldn’t put you off running him on it again but to be at his best, he wants a sounder surface. Soft will be fine. Just not heavy.”
Imarajan enjoyed a couple of more hours on heavy ground, in a muddy paddock this morning and we’ll look ahead for his next start sometime next month.
“I don’t think we could do much more than what we did,” Harty said. “Brought him to a nice race, gave him a good education and didn’t knock him about, so hopefully he feels the same way and takes that and learns from it. Not tired. Nice and bright. A good healthy blow. He looked like a horse who just went for a 2-mile gallop, what you would expect. Hopefully he’s had a nice time today, comes out of it well and we can move forward to race number two.”
