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Trainer Sam Chua is expecting big things from Accomplished, his up-and-coming galloper who has already scored three wins from just seven starts.
The three-year-old gelding made his debut at Kranji last November and has only run unplaced once in seven attempts and will be aiming to make it back-to-back victories this Sunday when he lines up in a $80,000 Progress race over 1200m.
It is not just his handy record that has filled Chua with confidence and optimism though, but also Accomplished’s pedigree.
Sired by Golden Snake out of Gold Patriot, Accomplished is a full brother to the now-retired Super Gold, who was arguably Chua’s best horse since he branched out on his own in 2007.
With six wins from 26 starts and over $600,000 in prizemoney earned, Super Gold remains the Singaporean handler’s only feature winner to date, having won the Group 3 Committee’s Prize (1600m) in 2009 followed by the Group 3 Moonbeam Vase (1800m) the following year.
“He’s a full brother to Super Gold who broke the course record when he won the Moonbeam in 2010 (his then-record time of 1min 46.89secs was lowered by more than half a second to its current 1min 46.31secs a few months later by Superb) and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that hopefully he can be as good as his brother,” said Chua.
“I’m taking things slow with him and going up the grades and see if he has the ability to be as good.”
Among Accomplished’s notable opponents in the small field of six runners this weekend include fellow promising three-year-olds Lucky Mission, Turangawaewae and Lively Dragon.
“Everything’s gone well with him, he’s fit and ready to race,” said Chua. “He’s rising in grade and it’s a good opportunity for him to test himself against some better horses and I hope he can show he’s up to that standard.
“He is still very green in races and I put the blinkers back on him to help him to focus but he still has a tendency to look around and not concentrate. But he will mature in the future and I think he’s going to be a good horse.”
While his current rating of 66 is nothing to shout about, Chua expects Accomplished, who has chalked up $114,705 in stakes earnings for the Mawen Racing Stable, to improve in the coming months and has his eye on more ambitious targets for his Australian-bred galloper on the horizon.
“He won on his debut on the turf over 1200m and has won over 1600m on the Polytrack as well so he’s shown he’s quite a versatile horse,” said Chua. “I think he can go further and we will carefully develop him into a stayer.
“There are not many suitable races for his age left this year so I’ll focus on letting him race against better horses and if he’s competitive next year, I'll think about entering him in the 4YO series (which comprises the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup over 1400m, the Group 1 Patron’s Bowl over 1600m and the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby over 2000m).”
Not one for the limelight, Chua may have flown under the radar for much of this season but has steadily picked up winners at a regular rate, including a rare four-timer last month and is hovering just outside the top-10 on the premiership with 19 winners, tied with compatriot Desmond Koh as the best performing locals.
“So far so good,” said Chua, who bagged 37 winners last year to finish 11th in the standings. “The stable boys are doing a good job and hopefully we can keep it going and maintain this for the rest of the year and help the owners get more wins.
“Everyone’s share has also gone up after the club increased the stakes which is good for all of us involved.”
While Chua is not known for his work with juveniles and did not field a single runner in the recently concluded six-race Singapore Golden Horseshoe Series for two-year-olds, he hopes to be more involved in next year’s edition after he picked up four yearlings, ranging from $50,000 to $90,000, at the Australian Easter Sales in Sydney in April.
“My owners made some money last year and they wanted to get some new horses. I spent about $280,000 in total and hopefully they’ll come on nicely and I’ll be able to enter them for next year’s 2YO series.”