“It’s a dream to ride a horse like this. He’s a machine!” enthused veteran jockey Andrew Fortune after steering Kangaroo Jack to victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge at Turffontein.

Starting as even-money favourite, Gary Alexander’s four-year-old charge made light work of the 1450m contest, winning by two lengths going away to register his fifth win on the bounce and his sixth in 10 starts.

Afterwards, both Fortune and Alexander suggested the son of Querari might soon be tried over 1600m to put him in line for some of the bigger prizes on offer later in the Highveld season.

“We’ve got to look at the mile,” said Alexander. “He’s very versatile; something special.”

Fortune said afterwards: “He’s an easy horse to ride. He tells me where he wants to be. And he just keeps getting better.”

TABNews