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Wonderful Prince stretched his unbeaten streak to three wins from as many starts on Sunday when he easily got the upperhand of his rivals in the $75,000 Graduation race (1400m) on Sunday.
A two-time Kranji winner over short Polytrack sprints (1100m and 1200m), the former Melbourne-based John Hawkes-trained New Zealand-bred was at his first test over turf and over more ground in Singapore, but his $14 quote did send a clear signal from his supporters that they believed he could still maintain his perfect record.
Now prepared by trainer Desmond Koh for his Hong Kong owners, the Wonderful Three Stable of Caulfield Cup winner Railings fame, Wonderful Prince certainly did not let them down when he was angled out towards the middle of the track by regular partner Manoel Nunes at the 300m mark before sprinting away to a comfortable 1 ¾-length win from Laurie Laxon’s newcomer Alfonso with Sacred City a surprising third another length away.
The moderate winning time of 1min 22.91secs suggested the early sectionals were stacked up at an easy tempo, but Wonderful Prince, who has always been inclined to overrace a touch, especially when he is around horses, was always travelling relaxed in the box seat this time around.
Nunes, who has established a good rapport with the Elusive City three-year-old, however, took no chances when he decided to steer Wonderful Prince outside Sacred City (Soo Khoon Beng) halfway up the home straight, instead of pushing between Sacred City and Alfonso (Corey Brown) who had hugged the rails from the start.
Alfonso, who looked beaten when the swoopers descended, found a second gear to kick up on the inside to earn the runner-up spot, no doubt an encouraging run which will augur well towards his ultimate objective in July, the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m).
Despite the ease of the win, Koh was as usual not getting ahead of himself in terms of future assignments.
“I’ll see how he pulls up first, but I guess we could be adventurous and think about the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge,” said the Singaporean conditioner of the series which is already underway with the first Leg, the Sprint over 1200m taken by War Affair on March 30.
“The distance suited him today and I’m sure he can improve even more over further. He’s always trained like a horse who wants a bit of distance.
“He was fresh first-up and won well over 1100m, but it was obvious sprint races would be too sharp for him afterwards. I also had no doubt he could handle his first test over turf well today.”
Nunes said the way the race panned out also gave him no reason to doubt about the final outcome – a third win and a paycheque of about $40,000 which has now taken Wonderful Prince’s total stakes earnings just shy of the $90,000 mark, not bad for a horse who picked up a paltry $700 in prizemoney at his two outings in Australia.
But the leading jockey is still expecting more improvement to come from Wonderful Prince, his 39th winner for the season.
“He’s still a baby and is still very green. He always shies away from other horses, though he didn’t do it as much today,” said the Brazilian jockey.
“The good thing about this horse is he has the speed to put himself in a good spot. I only wanted him to run relaxed and not to overrace as it was his first time over 1400m, and also because the pace was slow.
“In the home straight, I could have gone between runners, but I didn’t want him to shy away and that’s why I preferred to go around on the outside.
“He quickened up really well in the end. I think he still needs to learn what racing is all about before we plan for bigger races for him.
“I would say he would be more mature as a four-year-old.”