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Trainer Laurie Laxon named Mr Scorsese as his Singapore Derby runner after the grey made light work of his Class 3 rivals on Friday night.
The Kiwi mentor has always held the son of Pentire in high regard, especially during his successful three-year-old campaign when he sprang as an early favourite, but things did not quite go his way.
The Oscar Racing Stable-owned gelding was brought back late in the year, and it would seem it is only now his four-year-old season takes off.
“He’s always been a quality horse. That is his fourth win in 11 starts,” said Laxon.
“He is definitely my Derby horse as he is bred to stay. He’s by Pentire and was bred by Pencarrow Stud.
“Tonight, he took advantage of his good barrier three. It was the best Class 3 race I have seen for a while, and I’m really looking forward to his next runs.”
Taking the box-seat from the word go, Mr Scorsese was seen humming along before being angled out for a gap between the Ricardo Le Grange pair of The Capital (Nooresh Juglall) and Iron Man (Vlad Duric) shortly after straightening up.
Mr Scorsese ($63) took a short while to find his rhythm in between runners, but once he went through his gears, he soon parted company with the two Le Grange’s to career away to an emphatic 1 ½-length win.
The Capital, who was the $18 first elect, held on for second place by a neck from the fast-finishing Arhat (Alan Munro). The mile on the Long Course was completed in 1min 35.45secs.
Laxon’s choice of jockey Matthew Kellady for the ride was in itself a rare sight at Kranji, that would no doubt trigger an immediate search into the archives among trivia buffs.
It turned out that the last time trainer Shane Baertschiger’s No 2 jockey won with a Laxon-trained horse was more than nine years ago, on January 20, 2008 with Steel Cut!
When asked if he could name the winner, Kellady was spot-on about the horse, though the name of the son of Danehill eluded him.
“It’s great to ride another winner for Laurie. I do get the odd ride from him, but the last winner goes a long way back,” said the amiable Ipoh-born jockey.
“I can’t remember the name of the horse, but I do remember Robbie Fradd jumped off the horse and I got on. I wore a yellow jacket with a blue diamond.”
Steel Cut is indeed raced by Laxon’s Silver Fern Racing Stable which does race in those colours, complete with a white cap. And who was the rider at his previous ride when a fading ninth? Fradd indeed.
Kellady certainly deserves full marks for having Steel Cut’s win still in mind after all these years, albeit not all that sharp in the details, but it was his 10-out-of-10 ride on Mr Scorsese that mattered more to all concerned.
“I didn’t know the horse obviously, but he gave me a good feel when I rode him in the morning,” he said.
“He can truck along a bit, but I was able to get him to settle. I was told to settle five or six but he was stepping from 1400m to 1600m, and the pace was slow, that’s how we got into the box-seat quite easily.
“I was lucky to get the fence, and that was why he relaxed so well for me. I had a lot of horse underneath me turning into the straight.
“Once he got the gap, he just quickened away to an easy win. He’s a very good horse and a big thank you to Laurie for putting me on.”
Mr Scorsese’s most recent partner was Manoel Nunes, who was aboard at his last win in a Class 4 race over 1200m on March 24, but the three-time Singapore champion jockey decided to ride the Mohd Yusof-trained Darshini – whom he also won on at his last start. The second favourite ($19) finished sixth.
