Back In Business wins the Listed Spring Spree Stakes with a ton in hand (JC Photos)
Joe Soma said today (Monday) he had always thrived on training good horses and he looks to have another good horse on his hands in Back And Business, who has toyed with the opposition in his last two starts, including in Saturday’s Listed Spring Spree Stakes over 1200m at Turffontein Inside.
Soma said, “He’s very good, I’ve always rated him, and I’m very excited. I always get excited training good horses. I love training top horses, champions, I thrive on it. Before I became a trainer, even as a young boy, I always said I would love to train champions. I used to wonder what it would be like to train the like of Elevation and Politician.”
There were some raised eyebrows when Joe entered the William Longsword gelding Back In Business in the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes back in March, but the wise will have used that to their advantage as Soma has proved himself over decades as pound for pound one of the best trainers in the country.
It would have told them how highly he rated Back In Business.
It is incredible, for a yard with such small numbers and not much spending power, how Soma seems to have a Graded class horse every season and he now looks to have another potential star on his hands.
He said about Back In Business, “From the first time he cantered I said to everyone he could be the real deal. His first four starts were outstanding, he won three of them and in the other he finished third to Dave The King. He then had that well documented incident at the starting stalls and everything went pear-shaped and the horse just lost his confidence. I thought maybe just race him through it, but he definitely was not the horse that we knew. He was very uptight, flyjumped going down to the start, he just got very uptight with racing. So I decided to give him a break and took our time with him and suddenly he just started showing us the work that we knew he used to do … and he blossomed. He matured and he is a really beautiful horse. He weighs 550kg and on the Highveld that is a lot of horse (horses have to be worked a lot harder on the Highveld due to the altitude so generally weigh less than they do at the coast.) So he’s a very, very big animal and yet very light on his feet, very good action, good turn of foot … he is a nice horse.”
He displayed all of that in his last two starts.
Joe continued, “He is a horse who has now settled, he knows what racing is all about and if there is something in front of him he will go out and catch him. In fact when we work him in the mornings we have to make sure the track is clean, because if he sees a horse in front of him he wants to go after it. He’s got that mind of a special horse, he’s got that mind of a horse who was bred to run and says ‘Let’s run.’ And yet he settles beautifully in the running. He used to fight a little bit as a young horse but he’s learnt.”
Back In Business’s sire William Longsword won the Gr 1 Cape Guineas and the CTS Mile and overall had six wins in just eight career starts and those wins were from 1400m to 1600m.
Back In Business’ dam Enchanting Cathy, who is by the speed influence Var, is a half-sister to the top class three-time Gr 1-winning sprinter National Currency, who had the world at his feet when tragically passing away of a suspected snake or scorpion bite in Dubai.
So there is a lot of speed and black type in Back In Business’ pedigree.
However, Joe will be looking closely at the program and entries before committing him to his races.
His new merit rating has not been published yet and that will also have to be looked at.
Joe said, “We will look after him and pick his fights. I wouldn’t be scared of much, but we need to build up his confidence and get a few wins out of him and we’ll get there … I need to do what is right for him.”
In his penultimate start, following a four month layoff after the Horse Chestnut, Back In Business completely outclassed the opposition running off a 90 merit rating in a Middle Stakes event over 1450m at Turffontein Inside, scything through the field from off the pace in effortless fashion and going on to win by 2,25 lengths.
Joe was confident going into the Spring Spree.
He said, “He is a big horse carrying just 53kg and he ran 1,75 lengths off Dave The King at level weights and was unlucky in that race too as he played up badly in the pens and the jockey was consequently a bit soft on him … that told you straight away roughly the ability that he’s got.”
His Spring Spree Stakes win on Saturday was similar to his previous win, although there were a couple of anxioius moments over the shorter trip.
From draw six in the eleven horse field Muzi Yeni jumped the strapping individual out well enough and then simply sat on him while the deck was shuffled.
He ended up in a one out position in fifth place.
Yeni was content to let the leader, Cliff Hanger, stretch further ahead as he patiently angled his mount out under the hands to the outside rail.
His supporters must have thought he had left it too late because at the 300m mark he had four to five lengths to make up and still had to squeeze through two tight gaps on the outside, the first to get past Halberdier and then to get past Cliff Hanger.
However, the big horse then began eating up the ground with his big stride and was once again doing it effortlessly.
In fact, Yeni cheekily began easing him down as he stretched past Cliff Hanger at the 100m mark and he won by 1,80 lengths with a ton in hand.
Admittedly a number of the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained horses, of whom Cliff Hanger was one, looked like they needed their runs on Saturday and Back In Business was also only carrying 53kg off a 96 merit rating.
He is also a five-year-old already.
However, his career was interrupted by that starting stalls incident in September last year and patience has paid off in getting him back to where he would have probably been a year ago. Perhaps it has even worked in his favour considering his improved maturity.
Back In Business toyed with the opposition on Satuday, and it was probably over a trip a touch short of his best. The route Soma takes with him is going to be interesting, but he will no doubt be tested against the best soon.
Cliff Hanger was easily second, 2,20 lengths clear of Zinovi with Silent War and Guy Gibson next best and a disappointing Quantum Theory, who was last year’s winner, was beaten 6,10 lengths into sixth place.
