Turn Me Loose will head to the 2015 Emirates Stakes in a fortnight after he led from start to finish in the 2015 Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley this afternoon.
Jockey Opie Bosson elected to take Turn Me Loose to the front in the early stages of the Crystal Mile and he received a fairly comfortable run in transit before he kicked away at the top of the straight.
Lucky Hussler and Bow Creek both loomed on the outside, but the Seymour Cup winner was able to hold-off his rivals to deliver Bosson and trainer Murray Baker another feature race win in the Crystal Mile.
Bosson timed his ride to perfection on Turn Me Loose, but the typically modest hoop was quick to pay credit to the training performance of Baker.
“He does go quite keen in the first half of the race, but once he gets into his rhythm he has a really high cruising speed and when you ask him for a sprint he has a long and consistent sprint,” Bosson said.
“Murray Baker does an amazing job with his horses and they always look perfect.
“You know when you are on them, especially when you go into a big race, that they will be spot-on.”
The Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) was set to be the original 2015 Spring Racing Carnival target for Turn Me Loose, but poor weather in New Zealand ruined his chances of heading to the Australasian Weight-For-Age Championship, but Baker was still pleased to get a win at Moonee Valley this afternoon.
Baker confirmed that Turn Me Loose will have his next race start in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (1600m) on the final day of the 2015 Melbourne Cup Carnival and he believes that the 2000 Guineas could prove tough to beat.
“We think that he will run 2000 metres because he can run those sectionals and he is a speed horse,” Baker said.
“He has done very little racing and today was only his tenth race start.
“We think that we are getting him right now, we have had a lot of problems with him.
“We took him to Sydney and he got travel sickness and he ran shocking in a trial there and we had to bring him home, but he is starting to fire now.
“He will go to the Emirates.”
Bow Creek was unlucky not to make his Australian racing debut with a win and he will also head to the Emirates Stakes, while Lucky Hussler finished third, but he never looked like a winning chance.
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