Fame Star bounces back to winning ways
Fame Star (Twirling Candy) bounced back to his best after more than two years away from the winner’s enclosure when he repelled the challenge of Rocket Star (Star Witness) to land the feature Class 1 handicap over 1200 metres at Kranji yesterday.
The last of Fame Star’s eight wins came in a Kranji Stakes A race in February 2020 when under the care of his previous handler Leslie Khoo and in winning yesterday he gave his new trainer Stephen Crutchley a boost in his first season.
The 2019 EW Barker Trophy (Listed 1400m) winner bowled along under apprentice Jerlyn Seow to clock a time of 1min 08.88 secs, shaving 0.27 seconds off the previous class record held by Grand Koonta (Dark Angel).
Crutchley noted that many factors in the race worked to Fame Star’s advantage, with connections harbouring hopes of running him in the Lion City Cup (Listed, 1200m) after this return to form.
“We had a light weight, the inside barrier and the Short Course which were all very helpful,” said Crutchley, who was sending out his second winner after Mesmerizing (Cosmic Trigger) opened his account two weeks ago.
“This is such a good field, so we can’t be overconfident going into the race, but we were very happy with our horse. He is a very good horse.
“We will prepare him for the Lion City Cup and hopefully, he can get into the big race.
“I was also very happy with the way Jerlyn rode the horse. She tries very hard and comes to ride trackwork early every morning.
“She deserves every win coming her way.”
Currently the only licensed female rider in Singapore, Seow sits on top of the apprentices’ premiership with five winners to date.
Kid blazes through for first victory
Blazing Kid (Swiss Ace) overcame waywardness to easily secure his first win in the open maiden over 1200 metres.
With the four-year-old having already placed second twice from two starts, winning trainer Jason Ong thought going one better was not beyond his reach this time.
“I was happy with him coming into the race, so I expected him to run a good race,” said the young Singaporean trainer, after leading in his ninth winner of 2022.
“He still has a few things to learn and there are a lot of upsides with him. He is a nice horse going forward.”
Winning rider Oscar Chavez went on to score a hat-trick of wins to take his season tally to 15 winners.
He won aboard the Steven Burridge-trained Ima (Helmet) in division one of the Class 5 over 1600 metres before combining with Ong again to take out the second division of the Class 5 race over 1400 metres on board Smoke And Mirrors (Ocean Park).
Burridge went on to land a double when Diamond Mine (Gingerbread Man) scored later on the card.