3 minute read
Race-favourite Winning Man showed he was certainly a future force to reckon with after he recorded a second win from as many starts with an even bigger swagger than the first on Friday night.
An impressive winner in an Initiation race over 1200m after overcoming a wide alley (12 from 12) three weeks ago, the Patapan four-year-old again drew off the track, this time 11 from 12, in the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1100m on Polytrack, but again, he made light of that setback with a thumping four-length annihilation of his rivals, with Xin Treasure (Koh Teck Huat) the first among the beaten brigade.
Supersonicsurprise (Alan Munro) came from the ruck with an eye-catching run only to miss second place by a nose. The winning time was a sizzling 1min 4.96secs, only 0.59 seconds outside the course record held by Easy Man, who was incidentally also prepared by Winning Man’s trainer Leslie Khoo.
While Easy Man, who was once earmarked as an exciting sprinting prospect, saw his racing career curtailed by bad legs, Khoo could sense the same wow factor in Winning Man, but would be loath to get too excited at this juncture.
“I was expecting a good run tonight, but he won even more easily than I thought,” said the former top jockey.
“I told Shafiq not to fight for the lead if someone else wants to go forward. I was not worried at all he was outside the other horse (Saffir) as Shafiq was sitting the whole way, and I knew from his trials that he has a very good turn of foot.
“I also told Shafiq to wait for a while in the home straight as such new horses can get lost when they’re in front too early.
“From the smart time he ran, he’s obviously a very nice horse, but I will take it easy with him. I will just take him through his grades little by little.”
Shafiq was in rampant form on Friday night as, besides Winning Man ($12), he scored one race before with Titanium (see earlier report) before making it a race-to-race treble with Rockfast (x Fastnet Rock) in the last race, the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1400m.
Unless a dramatic drop in form, the 2011 Singapore champion apprentice jockey is all but home for a second title with his lead now stretched to 25 wins - 47 against defending champion A’Isisuhairi Kasim’s 22.
Shafiq said he was never out of his comfort zone with Winning Man even if he had to think on his feet during the early scramble for the lead as the field sorted itself out.
“I wasn’t sure if I would lead or take a seat, but with six horses all rushing forward and trying to lead, I thought I’d come back,” he said.
“But my horse also rolled forward and I decided to stay in that spot as I knew he was very fit. He was never off the bit.
“When he came into the straight, he tried to run off and I had to get him back on track. Once a horse came up to him, he was switched on and he then just quickened away.”
Shafiq was also impressed with the way Rockfast, the $17 second favourite in the Lucky Last, burst through a packed field at the 200m.
“He settled well at the back, but he looked like he had nowhere to go in the straight,” said Shafiq.
“He was hanging in and out a little and took a bit of a bump, but once he saw daylight, he just went through the gap to win a nice race. He will be better over more ground for sure.”
A one-time winner over 1200m in New Zealand, Rockfast, who was at his Kranji breakthrough at his third start, defeated Just Name It (Oscar Chavez) by a neck with Marea Negro (Alan Munro) third another half-length away. The winning time was 1min 23.58secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.