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After finding one better at his last two runs, speedy customer Yulong Xiongyin bounced back to winning ways with a solid frontrunning display in the $80,000 Class 3 Division 2 race over 1100m on Polytrack on Sunday.
The Irish-bred four-year-old by Footstepsinthesand was pretty much home and hosed the moment he hit terra firma in front from his wide gate (eight).
From that point onwards, all regular partner Benny Woodworth had to do was steer the $15 favourite in the right direction – towards the winning post.
Second fancy Red Dawn (John Powell) was the only one who tried to find a chink in his armour by staying within striking distance to make sure the bird doesn’t fly the coop.
Given Yulong Xiongyin was mowed down late at his last two starts, it was not such an unrealistic bid from Red Dawn. But tried as the Auric Stable-owned galloper might, Yulong Xiongyin was totally bombproof this time.
Trainer David Kok’s promising ward shook off the challenge with relative ease to stride away to a two-length victory from Red Dawn with Pioneer Seven (Wong Chin Chuen) third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 5.33secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
“I was quite confident before the race and when nobody came to bug him in front, I knew he would be hard to beat,” said Kok.
“Benny rode him very well. Once they crossed from the wide barrier, he was able to give the horse a breather, and he gave another kick in the straight.
“There is always that worry another horse would jump out of the pack to run him down, but he had a soft lead today and he just kept going.
“I have no big plans for him. I may run him over 1200m on turf again.”
Yulong Xiongyin has posted his two Kranji wins on Polytrack, and was also a two-time starter on the all-weather only in Ireland for one win and one second, but did race once on turf. It was at his second run in Singapore when he was being hailed the winner at the 200m until River Golden denied him late.
Woodworth, who last week won one race in China, but not for the organiser, the Yulong group which owns Yulong Xiongyin, was delighted he had managed to knock in one win for the Chinese outfit.
“They invited me last Saturday and I rode one winner, but not for them. I’m glad I got one for them today,” said the Malaysian jockey.
“It was an easy win. Once I found the lead and we had full control of the race, it was always going to be hard for the backmarkers to get to him.”
In four starts, Yulong Xiongyin has now recorded two wins and two seconds for prizemoney that has now tipped over the $100,000 mark for the Yu Long Stable.