3 minute read

Trainer Stephen Gray was looking forward to seeing a smart pair of four-year-olds of his race at Friday night’s meeting, but a virus will see him saddle only one in the end – Sky Rocket.

The other one, Lim’s Magic, who has not raced since his fifth place to Ares when backed down to $8 in an Open Benchmark 67 race over 1400m on November 11, has seen his comeback trail put off by a flu.

Sky Rocket, who is raced by 2007 Singapore Gold Cup winner Recast’s owner Patrick Lau, runs in Friday’s penultimate race, the $80,000 Always Certain 2011 Stakes, a Class 3 Division 2 race over 1200m.

Both are Gray hopefuls for the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge which starts with the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) on June 10. The Kiwi trainer was keen to get an early guide this Friday, but will have to wait a little for Lim’s Magic.

Sky Rocket, on the other hand, is coming off the back of an ultra-impressive win in a Class 4 Premier race over 1200m on April 1. The son of Darci Brahma was at his seasonal bow (last raced in December when a disappointing ninth), relishing the rain-affected track on that day to smash his rivals by more than seven lengths under the guidance of English jockey Alan Munro.

Gray said the track conditions may have made the win look flattering, but he had been confident in a first-up win all along.

“He was impressive on the wet track at his last run. I thought he would have won anyway,” he said.

“He is by Darci Brahma and is bred to be a miler. He will be better over more ground, Munro said he will definitely get a mile.

“I was looking at a 1400m race next week, but it was cancelled. I’m bringing him back to 1200m, which is still okay.

“He’s up in grade; we’ll see how he goes. Whether he makes the grade for the 4YO series, we’ll see, but he’s a very nice horse.”

Gray would not want to rush Sky Rocket even if he is a horse with plenty of upsides. He did it once and the horse went backwards.

“I remember after his debut win, he drew wide next time out and worked very hard to run fourth,” he said.

“I ran him one more time (three weeks later) and that was a mistake, but he won first-up after a break, which I thought he was going to even without a wet track.”

Gray said that both Sky Rocket and Lim’s Magic were originally pencilled in for last year’s Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, but he had to reshuffle his plans when they did not progress as expected.

“They were both late as three-year-olds as they needed more time. They got an opportunity to go through their grades and now we’re looking at the 4YO series for them,” said Gray.

“Lim’s Magic was supposed to start off this week but he had a virus, a flu. I had to take him out.

“He’s a horse I have plenty of time for.”