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New Zealand stallion Showcasing took the honours at Kranji on Sunday when he sired three of the 11 winners.
Brilliant One and Chariots Of Fire gave the Haunui Farm shuttle stallion a great start in the first two races before Casing Royal completed the hat-trick later in Race 8, the $100,000 Open Benchmark 83 race over the metric mile.
Unwanted in the betting in the small seven-horse field, the $76 rank-outsider did not give any indication he would be a threat until the business end.
Dropped back early by jockey Alan Munro, the previous four-time winner brought up the rear before improving on the outside down the back but even as the pace hotted up as the field approached the home turn, all eyes were on the leader of the pack, White Hunter (Corey Brown) and the well-tried Terms Of Reference (Nooresh Juglall) who seemed the most likely among the leading fancies to hit the jackpot.
The other popular picks like Castor (Troy See) was not going through his gears as he did at his surprising win over 1700m last time out and Robin Hood (Olivier Placais) seemed to have lost his quiver of arrows in Sherwood Forest as he kept losing ground despite an ideal rails-hugging run in midfield.
It was Casing Royal who came stealing the race instead with a sustained run on the outside. It was by no stretch of the imagination spectacular, but with the top guns misfiring, he made a beeline for the winning post and was well-rewarded for his temerity.
And it was three for Showcasing as the Alwin Tan-trained four-year-old kicked home a smart 1 ¾-length winner from Terms Of Reference with Mighty Emperor (Mohd Firdaus) third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 40.15secs for the 1600m.
Tan, who thought like most racegoers that Robin Hood would be his first pick, could not hide his surprise at the winner’s enclosure, but said the owners and him took a chance and were well rewarded.
“It’s very hard to find a good 1400m Polytrack race for him. I thought the mile would be too far, but we decided with the lightweight over the distance, he was worth a try,” said the Singaporean handler.
“He was also up in class, and to be honest, I didn’t have much confidence in his chances. But I have to say Munro rode him very well.
“He knows how to settle the horse and he just let him come into the race without bustling him up. After that win in such company, I guess I have one more prospect for next year’s Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge.”
It was not just Showcasing who was at win No 3 for the day as Casing Royal’s surprising return to winning ways also handed Munro a rare riding treble, five months after his only one this year, with Black Thunder, Amistad and Street Taipan on May 8.
“Obviously, going over the mile on Polytrack was a bit of a test, and that was probably why he was not fancied,” said the English jockey.
“But everything went good for him. He gave a very nice kick in the straight.”
With that fifth success, Casing Royal has now added another $55,000 in the bank account to tip over the $200,000 mark for the Royal Stable.
