John Moore experienced racing's rollercoaster yesterday, allowing himself a momentary thrill after class sprinter Inspiration worked at Kranji racecourse, only to get slapped down with a hostile barrier draw.
Inspiration drew gate 12 in a field of 14 for the S$1 million (HK$5.29 million) KrisFlyer Sprint and Moore had no one to blame but himself after selecting the alley at the celebrity draw at the Tropics Atrium in Suntec City.
'That's terribly disappointing,' Moore (pictured) said with a shrug of the shoulders. 'We obviously wanted a much better alley than that, but now it's over to Darren [Beadman] to make the best he can out of it.'
Earlier in the morning, Moore and Beadman were delighted when Inspiration turned around a week of concern with a strong solo workout on the Kranji course proper.
'They told me he ran home in 38.5 seconds and that would be about right,' Beadman said. 'He felt every bit as good as he normally does and it was good that he didn't have any trouble at all with the reverse direction. He handled it perfectly.'
Moore said Inspiration had put a lot of the weight back on that he lost on the trip from Hong Kong on Sunday.
'He's eating and drinking well now, and he coped with that work very well this morning. We weighed him this morning and he was almost 1,160 pounds.'