Unraced gelding Barocha debuts in sizzling style for trainer Clayton Douglas to land huge plunge at Sale
Backed almost to the exclusion of his 13 rivals, first-starter Barocha badly burned bookmakers by strolling to victory for jockey-trainer Clayton Douglas at Sale on Thursday that sets up a bright future.
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The spruikers – authentic and impostors – were on the money as boom first-starter Barocha lived up to outrageous pre-race hype at Sale.
Backed almost to the exclusion of his 13 rivals, Barocha ($1.70) strolled to a five-length win for jockey-trainer Clayton Douglas and his girlfriend Jamie Kah to deliver a knockout blow for punters.
While Douglas’ sole pre-race hope for Barocha is that “it’s not slaughtered by the girlfriend”, bookmakers were burnt badly by the avalanche of support for an unraced four-year-old.
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TAB reported 84 per cent of its fixed market win pool was invested on Barocha, who opened at $6 before starting in the red, with a flood of four-figure bets.
The plunge featured an $8000 wager.
“It is extremely rare for any non-metropolitan race on a Thursday to carry the amount of interest that has occurred for race two at Sale today, but the majority of punters are celebrating Clayton Douglas’ first win as a trainer,” TAB’s Trent Langskaill said.
Sportsbet suffered a similar fate with wagers of up $5000 featuring in a plunge which saw the son of Ilovethiscity touch $1.65 before easing out to his starting price.
Watching his first starter as a trainer from Mornington, Douglas was given not even the slightest worry as Kah parked Barocha off the pace before spearing into open territory in the straight and streaking away.
“Unbelievable, I’m just rapt,” Douglas said.
“Jamie has done a really good job with this horse.
“He’s not really an easy horse (to ride) and she’s really educated him well.
“Yeah, there was a lot of hype over it.
“Look, I knew he was pretty good and so did Jamie.
“We did think he’d probably do that.”
Douglas, a third-generation trainer, is currently nursing a broken foot but his spirits were lifted by Barocha’s powerful win.
Barocha doesn't let anyone down!
— Racing.com (@Racing) August 13, 2020
Congratulations @Dougie_5 on your winning debut as a trainer, with none other than @jamieleekah07 in the saddle! pic.twitter.com/3csqImtUem
“It’s good to get a nice horse to come out of Mornington and hopefully he can progress on from here.”
Douglas said there are no plans for Barocha despite the yawning margin of a win which came on the back of an impressive trial win over Group 2 winner Princess Jenni.
That win was the catalyst for the plunge – and a now notorious email touting the horse despite several glaring inaccuracies and distortions.
“We’ll just let the dust settle,” Douglas said of where Barocha might head next.