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The beautifully-bred gelding Travertine made it back-to-back victories when he took out the $55,000 Class 4 Stakes over 1100m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
A son of Rock Of Gibraltar from the Group 1 winning mare Fetes Galantes, Travertine, ridden by Barend Vorster, scored by a length-and-a-quarter from Angry Cat (Manoel Nunes) with Taichi Master (Ivaldo Santana) a length-and-a-half away third.
The David Hill-trained gelding provided apprentice Jimmy Kek with his first win and on Sunday defied a 6.5kg weight rise to record an impressive win.
Whereas Travertine ran his rivals off their legs when successful on New Year’s Day, this time around the gelding came from off the pace.
For Vorster it was a welcome change of luck. Prior to Sunday’s success he had just one win under the belt for 2013 having scored aboard Martincho Cat on January 11.
“I had almost forgotten what it was like to ride a winner,” said Vorster who finished fourth on the Jockey’s Premiership Table in 2012.
“It has taken a little while to get back into the swing of things and hopefully this will help.
“David wanted me to ride the horse a little handier but there was plenty of pace in the race so I just let him track into it by himself.
“Once we got into the straight he gave a really good kick and he was strong to the line.
“On that win there should be more success for him and it was especially nice to win for Dennis and Gael Evans (of Newbury Racing) who flew in from Singapore to attend the Horse of the Year awards last Thursday night.”
Vorster has had considerable success riding for Newbury Racing – who were the leading owners in Singapore during 2012 – including capturing the International Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint aboard Ato.
Evans reported Ato had undergone surgery during the week for a “ligament issue” behind the fetlock which kept the entire out of the Hong Kong International Sprint last December.
He said he hoped to have Ato back in time to defend his KrisFlyer ttitle in May but is fearful of running out of time.
“It was a tricky injury to find,” said Evans. “In the end a scan picked it up and we had him operated on last week.
“My original intention was to try for another KrisFlyer with him and then retire him, but we may now race on to next year.
“We’re not sure how long he’s been carrying the injury. He may have been carrying it for a while.
“He’s a big strong horse so hopefully we can get him back before he goes off to stud.”
An A$70,000 purchase, Travertine has now had 22 starts in Singapore, registering five wins and four minor placings for prizemoney approaching the $200,000 mark.The trio of Vorster, Hill and Newbury Racing later completed a double when Buzet took out the $35,000 Class 5 Stakes over 1700m on the Polytrack.