Global Destination
Global Destination provided us with our second winner in two days when gutsily holding on in the seven-furlong 0-70 handicap at Newbury yesterday afternoon. His victory was yet another in the silks of Dr Johnny Hon and ridden by the owner’s retained rider Gerald Mosse, and hopefully the good run can continue.
Destination was a little slow to break before finding a position towards the rear of midfield. The difficult conditions began to thin the field out some way from home, but Destination could be seen travelling powerfully as most of his rivals began to flounder. Gerald moved his mount forward around two furlongs from home, pressing and then passing the long-time leader Rosamour.
Inside the final furlong and Destination had established a clear lead, but John Betjeman was a strong closer on his outside. The pair of them settled down to battle it out inside the closing stages, but Global Destination was always just holding his rival and passed the post a neck clear of his rival.
This was a triumph for perseverance, as Global Destination had tried the teams’ patience over the last few months. Having shown promise on his only run at two, we thought we had found a good opportunity to win at Newcastle on his comeback in February, only for him to fail to hit the places. He finished down the field on his next start at Wolverhampton, before we decided to give him a full MOT, which included a gelding operation and wind op.
He returned from a break to finish a fairly encouraging sixth at Lingfield over seven and a half furlongs, which was a step back in the right direction, and it was evident by then that he needed more of a test than his pedigree perhaps indicated. So seven-furlongs on soft ground looked just the ticket, although we were not entirely sure how he would take to the surface. Well, as it turned out, he absolutely thrived in the ground and he showed a tremendous attitude to grind out the win. We will now have to see how the handicapper reacts and then make a plan for the horse in the coming weeks.
We send our warmest congratulations to Global Destination’s owner Dr Johnny Hon, and thank all the staff in the yard for continuing to work hard during this terrible weather!