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Friday’s $60,000 Class 4 Division 2 race saw a nail-biting finish between four horses where the winner to emerge by a nose was Southern Man.
After sitting outside leader My Horse (Manoel Nunes) throughout the 1100m journey, big outsider ($195) Sing Roulette (Saifudin Ismail) gave the impression he would have the edge on the outside, but just missed out to settle for second place while another nose away in third was Royal Guard (Matthew Kellady).
Beginning from a wide alley, Hello Michelle (Shafiq Rizuan) was trapped four wide for most of the race, but did well to plug on for fourth another head away. The winning time was 1min 5.17secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
After a winning debut two months ago, Southern Man therefore remains unbeaten in two starts, with John O’Hara keen to test him over further at his future endeavours.
“I will probably set him for a turf race. He wants the mile,” said the Singaporean handler, who was at the double after the resuming D’Don ($25) took out the opener, the $35,000 Class 5 race over 1000m.
“He showed he’s got a big heart tonight. I thought he was beat, but he came back and won in a close fight.
“This horse should have had more runs under the belt, but the two jockeys (Troy See and Derreck David) who ride him in trackwork and know him best got suspended at various stages.
“As you know, he’s given us a hard time at the gates, but to get two from two is very satisfying. The good work is paying off.”
David, who has been riding the Anacheeva three-year-old in his barrier trials and workouts, was scoring his first win since returning from a one-month suspension for not riding Dance In The Wind to the Stewards’ satisfaction.
“He’s very green. He was like waiting for them and then, they came at him left right and centre. I thought he was beaten at the 200m, but he picked himself off the canvas to get the win.
“Well done to the TTS Stable, and thank you to the Singapore Turf Club again for the opportunity to ride here.”
The two wins have swollen Southern Man’s account by another $35,000 to bring it to the $75,000 level for the TTS Stable.