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Japanese-bred four-year-old Lim’s Samurai could not quite put all his rivals to the sword at his last run on Friday night, but the Laurie Laxon yard was still happy with their Derby contender’s gutsy effort.
Ridden by Manoel Nunes, Lim’s Samurai took a while to go through his gears at the 300m mark of the Benchmark 83 race over 1400m, but gradually warmed up to the task late to noticeably reel in the pacesetter White Hunter inside the last 50m, only to come up short by a short head.
Assistant-trainer Shane Ellis said there was every reason to be pleased by the $16 second favourite’s run given he was tackling a tougher grade of horses.
He said that the intention was always to skip the first Leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) which will be run this Sunday, and elect for that softer approach instead. The Lim’s Stable will still be represented in the Stewards’ Cup through the Stephen Gray-trained Lim’s Cruiser, the likely favourite in the small eight-horse field.
But Lim's Samurai, a son of Samurai Heart, still needed a prep run leading up to the last two Legs, the Group 1 Patron’s Bowl (1600m) on June 18 and the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) on July 9, and Friday’s BM83 race slotted in perfectly.
“He went really good. He just got beaten a head by a horse (White Hunter) who is one year older and is obviously more experienced,” said the Perth horseman.
“He did get a bit of pressure during the race, but all in all, it was the perfect run leading up to the four-year-old races.
“It was always the plan to give the Stewards’ Cup a miss. He will go to the Patron’s Bowl and then the Derby.
“He’s a typical Japanese-bred looking for more ground and he was always our Derby horse.”
Laxon has won the time-honoured race twice, Dreyfuss in 2004 and Top Spin in 2008, ridden respectively by Shane Dye and Noel Callow.
Fellow Kiwi Dye was brought in especially for the Derby ride, something Laxon does fairly often for big races eg James McDonald, while Callow, the 2007 Singapore champion jockey, was already Top Spin’s regular partner then.
Laxon has at this stage not booked any jockey yet for Lim’s Samurai.
“The only thing is we don’t have a jockey for him yet. Nunes will probably stick with Infantry and Danny Beasley rides Lim’s Cruiser,” said Ellis.
“We’ll decide in due course, but more importantly, the horse has pulled up good and is on target for the four-year-old races.”
Laxon has enjoyed a good run in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, but mostly during the pre-2010 Patrons’ Bowl-Derby Trial-Derby era.
Under that old format, he landed three Patrons’ Bowls to his name; Dreyfuss (2004), Royal Captain (2005), My Royal Captain (2007). He won one Patron’s Bowl when it became the second Leg in 2010, with Intercept.
He won three Singapore Derby Trials with Superior Star (2004), Royal Captain (2005) and Top Spin (2008). Conversely, he has won two Stewards’ Cup – Big Maverick (2007) and Better Than Ever (2009), but when the race was a Group 3 event which was not part of the 4YO series.