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Classy sprinter-miler Zac Spirit did his Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge hopes no harm when he resumed from a three-month break an impressive winner on Sunday.
But mindful that the Flying Spur four-year-old needed to have a few more runs – and wins – under his belt to earn a berth in the coveted series which culminates in the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby in July, trainer Cliff Brown was erring on the side of caution first.
The Australian conditioner has instead penciled in the Group 3 Three Rings Trophy (1400m) on February 16 as a more immediate target and ultimately a gauge to assess his future path.
“The Three Rings Trophy is where he is being aimed at,” said Brown. “I know there’s plenty of talk about him going for the four-year-old series, but I prefer to wait and see.
“I have to say I was very concerned when he was unusually slow out of the gates tonight and when he was caught three wide facing the breeze, but he was too good in the end.
“He’s pulled up well, but I think there is still a lot of improvement to come from him.”
Such a conservative post-race reaction is typical of Brown, who is well known for not making hurried plans, even for a promising sort like Zac Spirit, one of the leading lights from the 2013 season what with a three-in-a-row that paved a way to a spot in the Group 1 Panasonic Kranji Mile where he was too far back, but still ran on well for third to Cash Luck.
Resuming in Sunday’s race since that Kranji Mile run last October, Zac Spirit, who was backed down to $12 favouritism, was not the quickest beginner for new partner Alan Munro, but started to muster speed to push forward three wide before dropping anchor behind pacesetter Goal Keeper (Noh Senari).
The one tagged as his main rival, Holy Empire (Manoel Nunes, $17) was not far away, settled on the outside of Flash Gift (Ivaldo Santana), who was pulling like a train as Goal Keeper tried to stack up the speed upfront.
Swinging for home, Zac Spirit drew first blood as Munro got down to work, but Holy Empire also pinged at the same time to issue his challenge. The much-hyped two-horse race everybody has been talking about looked like it would materialise as the Michael Freedman-trained grey four-year-old started to cut Zac Spirit back towards a ding-dong stoush.
But true to his name, Zac Spirit never threw in the towel, pinning his ears back as he kept finding to score by just under two lengths from a brave Holy Empire.
Newcomer Johnny Guitar (Barend Vorster) surged late into the mix to run third another three parts of a length away, a result which will definitely put him as another welcome addition among the 4YO Challenge contenders.
The winning time was 1min 9.33secs on the Long Course.
“He was a bit fresh, and didn’t jump that well, but he gathered speed and I was able to get him in a good spot. My plan was to follow Holy Empire in the running, but he came off the rails and held me deep,” said Munro who knows Holy Empire well for having partnered him to four of his six wins.
“I thought Holy Empire would go past us and he would get beat, but he just cruised once I let him go. His class won him the race.”
Brown said the decision to opt for Munro after the saddle became vacant following Zac Spirit's regular partner Joao Moreira's exit to Hong Kong last October was not hard to make.
"It was between John Powell and Alan Munro and in the end the low handicap (53.5kg) made it easy," said Brown. Heavyweight jockey Powell cannot make that kind of weight.
Zac Spirit has now brought his imposing record to five wins and three placings from nine starts for stakes earnings close to $430,000 for the Zac Stable.
