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The Group 3 Polytrack Mile Championship lived up to being “the most exciting field ever assembled on Polytrack” with Johnny Guitar winning the event.
All week, pundits had waxed lyrical about the star-studded line-up facing the starter in the all-weather feature where you could throw a blanket over the likes of Stepitup, Super Ninetyseven, Johnny Guitar, Wild Geese, Trudeau while past victors like Flying Fulton (2012) and Nandowra (2013) were not there to make up the numbers.
But the benefit of a cushy run on the fence courtesy of the inside alley coupled with a textbook ride from jockey Barend Vorster were in the end the key factors in swinging the race the way of Argentinian-bred Johnny Guitar.
Bustled up early to take up a forward spot, Johnny Guitar ($28) was first out of the machine to secure pole position before handing up the lead to Sir Lovesalot (Vagner Leal) who came whipping around from a wide gate to dictate terms.
As the field sorted itself out from the first corner, the main positions took shape with Cash Luck (John Powell) showing plenty of toe to sit outside Sir Lovesalot with Johnny Guitar third on the steel.
Among the others in a starring role, Trudeau (Corey Brown) was smothered in midfield enjoying a comfortable run in transit, Super Ninetyseven (Alan Munro) was in his customary spot of seeing them all at the rear, while race-favourite Stepitup (Ivaldo Santana), who had drawn the second-worse gate, was unfortunately plotting an identical path to his Colonial Chief Stakes run, four wide and punching the breeze.
Doubts whether he could pull it off again were already creeping up in the champion three-year-old’s corner as this was a much stronger field than the Colonial Chief.
Rounding the home turn, Sir Lovesalot’s solo run in the lead soon reached the end of its tether as outsider Cash Luck swept past with a cheeky run reminiscent of his gallant win in the Group 1 Panasonic Kranji Mile last October.
Surely the swoopers would soon make their presence felt, but as the winning post loomed, David Kok’s brave warrior was giving the increasingly uncanny impression he could steal a big race again.
But Vorster had in the meantime eased Johnny Guitar into the middle of the straight, and with a few shakes of the reins and cracks of the persuader, the son of Lode stuck to his task in workmanlike fashion.
Cash Luck mustered a stiff resistance, but Johnny Guitar kept pouring the pressure on and eventually wore him down to get his head in front 50m out. The Guitar looked home and the Fat Lady could sing, but on the outside suddenly popped up the fleet-footed Super Ninetyseven with a typical eleventh-hour charge in a bid to put paid to their song and dance.
The winning post, however, came to the rescue of Johnny Guitar who fell in by a neck from Super Ninetyseven, with Cash Luck hanging on for third another neck away.
After coursing out wide throughout and sliding up early from the backstraight, Stepitup unsurprisingly saw his condition give out in the end, but has certainly lost no admirers with his fourth place another length away. The winning time was a smart 1min 38.7secs.
But all honours to the newly-crowned Polytrack Mile Champion, whose next short-term assignment could be oscillating between home and Dubai.
“I’ve entered him in both the Golden Shaheen (1200m) and the Godolphin Mile (1600m), but I’ll need to get an invite first,” said trainer Patrick Shaw, who famously won the Golden Shaheen with Johnny Guitar’s owner Fred Crabbia’s Singapore superstar Rocket Man in 2011.
“The Mile could be tough with horses like Variety Club in it. These guys are rated around 127-129 points while my horse is currently only on 89 (before Friday’s win).
“It’ll be tough, but let’s see. We have plenty of races here and the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge is definitely his main goal here.”
Shaw said with Johnny Guitar being a proven commodity over longer trips in his country of origin, he would certainly be a worthy candidate over all three Legs leading up to the Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) on July 13.
“The 1200m was too sharp for him at his debut here, but I wanted to teach him to run on as the horses here are a lot sharper compared to the ones he was running against in Argentina,” said the South African mentor.
“He is definitely looking for further. He’s been placed at Group level over 1800m back home, but we’ll play it by ear here.
“For him to win a Group race here at only his third start is already an amazing feat, especially as he was up against some very good horses like Stepitup and Super Ninetyseven. You take out Zac Spirit, these are the best horses in Singapore at the moment.
“I was a bit worried about the Polytrack tonight, though. His form on dirt back home was not good, but he’s trialled well on it here and he’s shown it in a race tonight.
“Barend rode him a treat as well. I told him to never leave the leaders out of his sight and he did just that.”
The fellow South African hoop was smiling from ear to ear at the winner’s circle and was certainly not in a mood to be prised away from such a good ride in the future.
“I ride this horse every day in his trackwork. He is a real quality horse with a very bright future here,” he said.
“When he got the draw in this race, I knew he would get a good run, more so when his main dangers have all drawn wide.
“It will be tougher for them to play catch-up on us. In saying this, it can also be tricky being stuck on the rails.
“But we were able to get off the rails at the right time and he attacked the line very well once he was in the clear.
“Now it’s a matter of deciding which way we go with him. Like I’ve said before, he’s a classy individual and is getting better and better.
“Good luck to Fred and Pat with this horse. They deserve to have another good horse like this one.”
From only three runs at Kranji, Johnny Guitar has now struck twice with his only defeat being a third place at his debut in a 1200m race on January 19. A former winner of four races up to a mile in Argentina, He has already racked up local stakes money close to the $190,000 mark for Crabbia.