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Third-season trainer Alvin Tan would love nothing less than cracking it for his first training feature success with stable favourite Speedy Cat this Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Tan has all along tagged the son of Scaredee Cat as the first genuine silverware material who could fill that gap on his resume. The five-time winner, who has never finished worse than second in nine starts, will get his chance to live up to such great expectations in Sunday’s $200,000 Group 3 Woodlands Handicap (1200m), even if he is facing stiff opposition.
Tan, who flew off the starting blocks with a sensational 11th finish with 38 winners at his first full season in 2010, saw his form dip to a more low-key season last year with only 24 winners, but the arrival of Speedy Cat at the beginning of the 2012 has certainly put him back in the headlines.
After the gelding showed devastating early form that saw him notch four from four in the first quarter, the bubble finally burst when a brave second to champion three-year-old Super Easy in the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m).
That first taste of defeat however did little to dampen Tan’s healthy opinion of the now four-year-old, as he has never finished worse than second at four other starts. Speedy Cat even added one more win on Singapore Airlines International Cup day (May 20) when for the first time ridden from behind by regular partner John Powell in a Class 2 race over 1400m.
With Tan keen to test him over more ground, the next assignment was a race over a mile following a two-month break, but Speedy Cat found one better in much more proven staying mare Better Life. The suspended Powell was then replaced by leading jockey Joao Moreira at Speedy Cat’s last start when dropped back in distance to the 1200m journey of a Class 2 race, but again, he came up short against Niceone after being a little slow out of the gates.
Tan did not want to find too many excuses to that defeat other than he did not enjoy an uninterrupted passage.
“He always tries his best, but he met with some interference up the home straight, and was also a little slow out of the gates,” said the US-trained Singaporean handler.
“He has pulled up very good after that run and I would say he’s in tip-top condition. I know the field with horses like Mr Big and Yin Xin is pretty strong, but the owner and I have discussed and we felt it was time for him to face stronger opposition.
“I think he was not quite ready in the 3YO series, but he has matured a lot now that he is a four-year-old. He knows what he is doing and is ready to take on better horses.”
While Tan is happy with the light weight his charge will carry in the handicap race, he is a little more circumspect about marble one.
“The good thing in his favour is he has no weight on his back, but barrier No 1 doesn’t really help,” he said.
“He’s always drawn either in the middle or out wide. When he last won, he jumped from the widest gate (12).
“I think he’s a horse who doesn’t like to be cramped on the fence. He just doesn’t like horses around him.”
With Powell still serving his nine-day ban and Moreira sticking with last-start winner Yin Xin, Tan had to look elsewhere for the steering job, but did not really have to go too far afield in the end.
“I first called Joao but he told me he was riding Yin Xin. Then I thought why not use (Ivaldo) Santana as he has had some form with us recently,” said Tan of the Brazilian jockey who will ride Speedy Cat half-a-kilo over at 50.5kg.
“He won on Imacruiser last Sunday and on Daring Splendour a few weeks before. He’s adapted well to Kranji now and has showed us what he can do.
“Anyway we’ll see. I hope my horse will run a good race this weekend.”