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After missing the cut in the Dester Singapore Gold Cup, Guru-Guru got a nice form of redemption in the shape of a gritty win in the $200,000 Group 3 New Year Cup (1900m) on Sunday.
The emerging stayer just lost out to eventual Gold Cup winner Bahana in the lead-up race, the Group 3 El Dorado Classic (2200m) back in October, but was a stark absentee in the line-up when the time-honoured race rolled around three weeks later on November 20, the minimum rating of 71 that was imposed leaving him high and dry.
Disappointed, trainer Desmond Koh still ran him on Gold Cup day in the “consolation stakes”, the Kranji Stakes C race over 2200m. He did not win, collecting a fast-finishing third to Gilt Complex, but could have done better if he was not held up at the top of the straight.
Excuses don’t hand out trophies, and patience is a virtue. Koh and connections, the Tan Huat Stable, were certainly rewarded for their unflinching belief in the sturdy New Zealand-bred six weeks later.
Coming in as the bottom-weight, Guru-Guru who had his El Dorado partner Azhar Ismail, back on top, was facing some stellar opposition in the shape of Perfect P, Time Odyssey, Daniel and Blue Swede, but proved he was not far off that peg with a superior staying display throughout the 1900m trip.
It may not have looked the prettiest of rides when Azhar dug him up as early as the halfway mark to course out four deep, but it turned out to be a winning ploy.
After a good beginning, Time Odyssey (Oscar Chavez) kicked up on the rails to hold the lead, but Bring Money Home (Derreck David) and Order Of The Sun (Wong Chin Chuen) would not let the Ricardo Le Grange-trained galloper have it easy upfront as they came hardening the pace, eye-balling each other in a line of three for the entire length of the backstretch.
With the naked eye, they seemed to be going helter-skelter, but that did not stop Azhar from allowing Guru-Guru to latch onto that flow as they improved from the rear three to four deep down the back.
The field was still bunched-up as they swung for home, with Daniel (Glen Boss) looking like the one who would profit from the wilting leading trio upon cornering. The Colonial Chief Stakes winner shot past Time Odyssey on the inside for what looked like a winning move but also felt the pinch despite Boss’s urgings.
That was when Guru-Guru ($50) stepped up to the plate, while another mildly-fancied galloper, Big Brother (Barend Vorster), who was denied a passage upon cornering, had to duck back inside for his final assault.
Castor (Saifudin Ismail), who stayed in touch with the pacesetters throughout, was also still very much in contention as he poked his head in, but it was Guru-Guru who outstayed the whole lot to go and post a half-length win from a very gallant Big Brother.
Castor lost no marks either with his third place, another head away. The winning time was 1min 59.13secs for the 1900m on Polytrack.
Koh was his usual cool and composed self at the prize presentation, never hinting at any poetic justice in the win, just praising Azhar’s handling of the Faltaat four-year-old as “perfect”.
“There was a good pace in the race, and my horse just kept going,” said the Singaporean handler, who was at his maiden New Year Cup triumph.
“He couldn’t get in the Gold Cup, and I guess that makes up for it, but to be fair, the lightweight helped him a lot.
“Azhar is an old veteran who knows this horse very well. He is a multiple champion jockey in Malaysia and I just let him do his own thing – he rode a perfect race.
“The horse is only a four-year-old and we’ll just do our best with him. We will just keep trying with him.”
What rhymes with four-year-olds and middle-distance races is obviously the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) in July, a race Koh won in 2012 with Chase Me, who happens to have raced in the same yellow Tan Huat silks, but Koh would not put the cart before the horse.
“It’s too early to tell, but he ticks a few boxes for now. It’s definitely a race we can think about in due course,” said Koh.
“He is raced by the same connections as Chase Me. So, there is a bit of a connection, but let’s not get too carried away.”
A feted seven-time Malaysian champion jockey, Azhar used to scoop up feature wins such as the New Year Cup by the spades in his heyday, but even though the opportunities have slowed down a few notches, the 53-year-old was glad he could still steal the limelight at the highest level – and above all, glad he had not hung up his boots.
“This horse has been fantastic to me and the race worked out well for us. Credit to Desmond for maintaining his form during the break,” said Azhar.
“He’s a horse you have to keep off the bridle. That was why I got him on the move early.
“Even though he was wide, I was not too worried as I know he’s a genuine stayer and he can still finish on top of them. All I had to do is just keep his momentum going.
“It’s been a while since I last won a Cup race. I’m still hungry for wins, and as long as I have the heart to carry on, I will keep on riding.”
Azhar’s last Group success at Kranji came in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m) with Pitstop for Steven Burridge in 2012. The year before, he won his last Singapore Group 1 race with Speed Baby in the Patron's Bowl for the same Burridge.
Azhar’s last feature win came with the Lim Boon Theng-trained Mystic Power in the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) in 2014.