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Two setbacks held up Black Magic’s Singapore debut, but they were luckily only temporary interruptions and certainly did not stop the O’Lonhro three-year-old from getting off to a flier on Sunday.
After scoring a dominant seven-length barrier trial win in June, Black Magic was all geared up to start as a two-year-old for trainer Theo Kieser, but came unstuck when a respiratory issue put him on the sidelines. Just when connections were happy to see him back to full fitness, disaster struck again – this time in the shape of a stray nail being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He’s been with us for a while and even scored a nice trial win back in June. But then (jockey) Danny (Beasley) said his breathing was not right and after we had him scoped, it turned out he had a big ulcer in his throat,” said Kieser, an astute trainer of “babies”.
“I transferred him from the air-conditioned stables to the non-air-conditioned stables, gave him a break and he came back good.
“But just when he was back in work, he stood on a nail that went through his pedal bone. It was touch and go for a while, but thankfully, he pulled through again.
“He did a good job to win today as he did it tough. He was three to four wide and still won very well.”
Sent out as the $15 favourite, Black Magic did give his supporters some anxious moments when he settled worse than midfield three wide and even had to come out even further abreast from the 500m to make his run.
Ninetysix Power (David Flores) tried to make all, but had to settle for second place when Black Magic raced past him to go and post a comfortable two-length victory with Saffir (Barend Vorster) another head away in third. The winning time was 1min 13.02secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Beasley was full of praise for the Koh Siok Choo-owned gelding, even if he still represented works in progress at this early stage of his racing career.
“I was trying to track Zuriman’s (Zulkifli) horse (Five Hundred Bucks), but when he got back on me, I had to get my horse out to get going,” said the Australian jockey. “He wanted to lay in, but he scored a very nice win in the end.
“I worked him a lot when he was first here earlier in the year and his work had been good, but he then had mucus and shinesoreness. Theo gave him plenty of time to come right.
“He’s got a very smooth action, like a hovercraft. It's like his feet don’t touch the ground.
“He’s still very green, but he’s doing the right things now and he will definitely improve with more racing experience.”