Charmed run continues for Kharisma even at Kranji Stakes A
A daring gamble to let Kharisma (Mossman) skip a few classes returned instant dividends at Kranji yesterday, but also gave trainer Stephen Gray a bit of a conundrum to ponder: Where to from here?
Last victorious in Class 3 company three weeks earlier, the four-year-old completed a hat-trick as he easily shook off the attention of his challengers under two-time Singapore champion apprentice Wong Chin Chuen to beat stablemate Darc Bounty (Darci Brahma) by a length and three-quarters. Webster (Showcasing) was another length away in third in the Kranji Stakes A race over 1200 metres.
“He’s not raced a lot on grass because there were more Polytrack races then. There was no choice, but he ran good races on grass before, so I wasn’t worried about that.” said Gray.
“He’s a genuine handicap horse, and with the light weight, I had a throw of the dice as I thought the field was not as strong. He did very well.
“A race like the Lion City Cup is coming up, but it’s at weight-for-age. There are also the four-year-old races coming up, so we’ll have to discuss with the owner even if, usually, I would rather set him for handicap races.
“I’m really not sure where he goes from here, but these are unusual times, and we have to resort to unusual measures.”
A Sure Will to win, again
Just one race after Kharisma upstaged a handy field, Gray saw another smart four-year-old from his yard thump the opposition, this time Sure Will Do (Per Incanto) in the second division of the Class 4 race over 1100 metres on Polytrack.
Clocking 1 min 4.96secs, Sure Will Do continues to stamp himself as something out of the box with his near-perfect record at Kranji. The only blemish from five starts was a third place on a bog track in December.
“He should be unbeaten today. I shouldn’t have run him that day it rained, but that’s the past,” said the winning trainer.
“He was very impressive today even though he was taken on. He’s not easy to get past when he’s in front and he showed that again today.”
Shepherd’s Hymn finally calls right tune
While watching the Class 4 race over 1600 metres unfold from the stands, assistant trainer Michael White told himself he would have no more excuses to find if Shepherd’s Hymn (So You Think) came a cropper again.
The four-year-old is one of many upwardly mobile horses filling out champion trainer Michael Clements’ yard, but this one has somehow been stuck at Class 4 after his last win came back in September.
But with first-time partner Vlad Duric deftly navigating the two-time winner from an awkward barrier, Shepherd’s Hymn skipped clear to go and put one length on a brave Ironchamp (Glass Harmonium) with third place going to the fast-finishing Gold Kingdom (Animal Kingdom).
“We would have been disappointed if he didn’t win today,” said White, deputising for Clements at the winner’s box.
“Once he was in this spot, he had no excuse. He’s had excuse after excuse at his last runs.
“Hopefully that is the confidence booster that he needed. He’s always shown us ability, but he’s still in Class 4.
“He took an age to get there, but he got the job done. He’ll be even better over more ground.”
Early double for Team Ong-See
The relatively new Jason Ong-Joseph See combination got off to a flyer when they landed the first two races with All We Know (Animal Kingdom) and Bruce Alnaughty (Adelaide).
“I’m very pleased for Joseph as he has been helping me out a lot at the stables. He works very hard, and is riding with a lot more confidence these days,” said Ong.
See, who had not got on the board since Special Ops (Reset), also prepared by Ong, saluted at the 2021 curtain raiser on January 3, was also delighted the budding partnership is bearing fruit.
“Jason has been supporting me, and I was only too happy to help him with trackwork in the morning when he asked me,” said See.
“Hopefully, there’ll be more winners to come for us.”