Hungrier and more polished Iskandar, a parting gift from Freedman
Iskandar Rosman’s “big boss” won’t be around for him very soon, but Lee Freedman’s legacy on the young Malaysian has certainly put him in good stead for his riding future.
A brilliant race-to-race double courtesy of Freedman’s and King Power Stable’s My Big Boss (Smart Missile) and Augustano (Hard Spun) bore testament to the extra polish Iskandar has picked up from Freedman, as well as former Singapore Turf Club riding coach Matthew Pumpa and current interim coach Damien Kinninmont.
Freedman announced in December he was returning home in March to set up a stable on the Gold Coast. Just like his horses, who will be dispersed among existing trainers at Kranji, his only apprentice jockey will also move elsewhere, joining trainer Young Keah Yong.
“After Covid-19, he returned from Johor Bahru and he had come back with a change of attitude,” said Freedman.
“His attitude towards work was fantastic, he wanted to do everything at the stable, but I think with the assistance of Matt Pumpa, he has also improved enormously.
“For a start, he is a lot more aware of what he’s doing in a race, he’s more race aware. He also has a fantastic seat, which is as good as any lightweight senior jockey here, and being a lightweight jockey is a big asset here.
“I’m very proud of him as he actually started his career with me, but all the credit should go to him because he made his own decision to make a good fist of it.”
Iskandar first drove My Big Boss home to win the Class 4 race over the Polytrack 1200 metres before completing his double with a well-judged frontrunning ride on Augustano in the Class 3 race over 1400 metres.
As Freedman winds up his Singapore training operations, those last two wins have taken his overall Singapore tally to 161 winners.
“Right now, I’m just busy with sorting out where the horses go and tying up the loose ends,” Freedman said. “We’re booked to leave the first week of March.
“I wanted to come to the races today, but I couldn’t make it in the end. I’ll definitely be at the races next Saturday as I need to be there for Andre Lim who’s got Super Invincible running.”
Winning Return for Duric
Champion jockey Vlad Duric showed he meant business when he got on the scoresheet at only his second booking on his riding comeback.
Sidelined through suspension and a throat issue at the first four meetings in the 2021 season, the four-time Singapore champion jockey was clearly in a mood to make up for lost time from his very first ride when he finished a close third aboard Hwasong (Declaration Of War) in the opener.
After that warm-up, Duric got right on the mark in the very next race astride the aptly-named Prosperous Return (Fighting Sun).
“It’s good to be back. This horse is very good, he has a good head,” said Duric.
“He came back relaxed under me. He’s looking for a mile and up to 1800 metres, he’s tough.”
Winning trainer Michael Clements’ assistant Michael White was not surprised by the winning turn second-up from his debut sixth in a novice race over 1200 metres a fortnight ago.
“He ran in a hot novice with horses like Starlight and Be You. He was caught wide, but he went really good,” White said.
“The run was better than it looked on paper considering he wants 1400 metres and longer. The barrier (11) was a worry today, but Vlad rode him positive.
“He had the other horse on his back, but he held on well. He’s still pretty raw, the more racing he gets, the better he will get.”
The Singapore champion trainer went on to score a race-to-race double in the Class 4 Division 2 race (1100m) with favourite Tuesday (Deep Field) winning in record-breaking time.
Ridden by Juan Paul van der Merwe, the three-year-old shaved off 0.09 second from Altair’s (Zoustar) previous course record of 1min 03.76secs in his four and a half length demolition of the field.
Following that early brace, Clements made it three later with new English import Kassab (Exceed And Excel) who was also ridden by Duric.
The score could have been better for both Clements and Duric with their best chance of the day, Knight Love (Shanghai Bobby) in the last race, who eventually finished a disappointing ninth behind outsider Super Power (Power).
Sage leads MMW-Burridge quinella
In-form trainer Steven Burridge could not have hoped for a better result after his two MMW Stable debutants Sage (Reset) and Ima (Helmet) ran 1-2 in the open maiden over 1200 metres.
The pair dictated from their low draws and hardly came under any form of challenge when they turned the home straight into their own battleground after they shot clear.
“You sort of hope for such a result, and I’m glad everything’s worked out as we hoped,” said Burridge.
“When Ima came on the outside, I thought he would win, but Sage fired back on the inside, and just kept whacking away. It was not a great field, but they both ran to expectations.”
Sage is a four-year-old who raced as Mongolian Sun in New Zealand for one second and one third for Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman while Ima, also a four-year-old, previously raced in Australia where he boasted one second in midweek company at Caulfield when known as Busby for Grahame Begg.