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Only a clutch of punters dared believe Fortune Winner could win back in trip over 1200m, but the staying mare upset all odds when she took out Sunday’s sprint race for Benchmark 67 runners with a jaw-dropping five-length romp.
Once seen as a Derby hope by connections, the Argentinian-bred mare has been dropping back to seven furlongs of late, even winning one last July.
The logical upshot of such runs would be a return back to the longer trips, but trainer Leticia Dragon went against the grain by lining up the five-year-old by little-known sire Include in Sunday’s $60,000 event over six furlongs.
From the wide barrier, jockey Mark Ewe just had to post her on a wide course before launching the widest coming into the straight.
The leaders never had a chance to blink. Fortune Winner put a wing on every foot as she sailed down the outside for one of the easiest wins seen at Kranji in the last few months. Fortune Winner jogged in, leaving favourite Chopin’s Nocturne (Manoel Nunes) and Conilad (Glen Boss) to fight for the minors, with the former getting the runner-up nod by a short head.
Fortune Winner, who did not have many friends at $77, clocked 1min 11.62secs for the 1200m, with Dragon now aiming to step her back up in distance at her next assignments.
“We’ve kept her fresh and happy and she’s won a nice race, even if it was only over 1200m,” said Dragon.
“Today was the fillies and mares day as before her, three of them won (Space Oddity, Higher Soul and Margaux). So it was only fitting my ware joined the club, too!
“But jokes aside, she had a couple of months off and generally for mares, they need more time to come back in form.
“The fast pace suited her and she’s done the rest. It’s all part of her training programme and I will now look at a longer race for her.”
Ewe said he could not possibly be confident about a winning turn against this speedy lot, but Fortune Winner came up with a finishing burst that surprised him.
“I didn’t think she had a good chance, maybe a place chance if she can run on in time,” said the former three-time Singapore apprentice jockey.
“From the wide gate, I had no other choice to drop her back. I then just followed No 7 (Conilad), and he sure carted me nicely into the race.
“At the top of the straight, she was travelling so well that I just let her go right on the outside and she just stormed in for a very easy win.”
With that fifth win from 22 runs, Fortune Winner has now brought his bank account to more than $280,000 for his owner, the Kim Stable, which is a spin-off of the Fatboy Stable owned by Frankie Lim.