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Leading trainer Lee Freedman did not look too concerned by his first Singapore Group 1 winner Mr Clint’s last place in a barrier trial on Thursday.
The Australian Hall of Fame trainer described the Singapore Guineas winner’s effort as “pretty ordinary” but hastened to add that the son of Power was no morning glory at trackwork.
“He’s no flash trialler, especially when he gets up on the inside of horses. He doesn’t quite put in like when he does when he goes around horses,” said Freedman.
“We don’t take notice of him in the morning, anyway. He saves his best runs for racedays.”
If his last two starts where he finished at the other good end of a race are anything to go by, Freedman certainly has a point.
Then three, Mr Clint let down with a potent turn of foot when posted out on a peripheral course.
In his Guineas trial one week earlier, a Class 3 race over 1400m, Mr Clint came from near-last under jockey Daniel Moor, circumnavigating the 13-horse field to come sailing down the outside and claim Lim’s Magic in the last 50 yards.
In the Guineas itself on May 26, it was not quite a carbon-copy replica, but Mr Clint was at no stage locked away on the fence or thereabouts. Ridden by Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton, the Oscar Racing Stable-owned gelding settled worse than midfield, again plotting a wide path on the outer before putting paid to his three-year-old peers with his customary dash. He has been tipped out since.
There was no sign of that killer turn of foot on Thursday when he and stablemate Mr Dujardin (Vlad Duric) fought out the last two spots, with a head splitting the two Oscars in the end.
But Freedman is confident it will be around when needed next Sunday at Mr Clint’s racing comeback in the $200,000 Group 3 Jumbo Jet Trophy (1400m) where he will be paired up with Freedman’s other Group hero, Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) winner Circuit Land (see previous report).
“Daniel Moor rode Mr Clint this morning and will ride him in the Jumbo Jet Trophy. That’s always been Mr Clint’s race after the break,” said Freedman.
“He’s come back good. He’s fine and I’m happy enough with him going into the race next Sunday.”
So is Moor, who is hoping the second link-up with the promising four-year-old can pave the way to bigger and better things down the road. Like Freedman, the Victorian jockey shrugged off the lacklustre trial.
“I’m not too concerned by the trial. I knew the moment he drew two it would be difficult to get off the fence,” said Moor who actually won his first Singapore race as a longer-term licensed jockey with Mr Clint.
“I’m giving more weight to his trackwork leading up to his comeback. He’s been working really well and has shown no sign he was not coming along.
“He’s much better than what his trial run suggests. The Jumbo Jet Trophy will be a very competitive race and it’s good of the Club to put together a race like that.”
While Mr Clint and stablemate Circuit Land will certainly figure among the main contenders in the Group 3 1400m feature race on August 12, all eyes will also be on 2016 Singapore Horse of the Year Debt Collector who has picked that race for his Kranji comeback after a break in Australia. The Cliff Brown-trained son of Thorn Park won that race in 2016.
Regardless of his performance on Sunday week, Moor said Mr Clint could be that horse who may well put him on the map in the more coveted bigger races.
“I hope to stay with Mr Clint this preparation. He’s a horse that has an exciting future and I hope to be part of that,” said Moor who has six winners on the board after beginning his six-month stint in May.
