Logan-Fortuna debut fit for a King
King Arthur (I Am Invincible) delivered the perfect start for the new partnership between trainer Donna Logan and the Fortuna New Zealand Racing Stable on what was their very first day at the office in the season opener yesterday.
The Kiwi trainer was the lucky recipient of powerhouse outfits Te Akau Stable and Fortuna’s string of horses when four-time Singapore champion trainer Mark Walker made the move back home to New Zealand to in time replace outgoing Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards, who has taken up the opportunity to train in Hong Kong from the 2022-23 season.
As many as 21 horses split almost two ways between the two New Zealand stables headed Logan’s way to beef up her string to close to full house capacity (59 horses), along with other horses and Walker’s staff as well.
Given the transfer took place only a few weeks ago, racing form and fitness was almost “off the shelf” with Logan hence able to kick off at Singapore’s inaugural day of the 2022 season with four ex-Walker-trained runners among her nine starters, namely two Fortuna NZ Racing Stable wards, Elliot Ness (Written Tycoon) and King Arthur, and one Te Akau, Axel (Darci Brahma) while Exdream (Dream Ahead) belongs to Dato Terry Lee’s Fairdeal Stable.
With the best result coming thus far from Elliot Ness’s fourth place in Race 3, the brand new Kiwi merger looked set for a rather subdued start, but the last bullet, King Arthur, came reigning supreme at the right time in the penultimate race, the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1000 metres, to provide the lift they needed in this apt backdrop of a fresh start in the new season.
“I feel like I have been blessed by God. I’m so grateful to David Ellis (of Te Akau) and John Galvin (of Fortuna) for their support,” Logan said.
“I never trained for either when I was in New Zealand, but of course, I’ve known both David and John for a number of years.
“I’ve known David and his wife Karyn for the longest time, my husband Peter doesn’t smoke, but he loved to have a cigar with David at the races back home!
“My daughter Sam pre-trains for David and they used to call her Te Akau fan, and now I’m called Te Akau Donna!
“It’s a big thrill to train for such professional organisations. It’s a great challenge and I’m also so grateful they have given me a new lease of life.”
Leatherhead leads Le Grange quinella
An early midrace move proved to be decisive for Ricardo Le Grange’s lightweight chance Leatherhead (Helmet) in the $70,000 Class 3 race over the Polytrack mile yesterday.
Shouldering only 51 kilograms on his back, the six-year-old son of Helmet (Exceed And Excel) improved noticeably three-wide in the eight-horse field as jockey Zyrul Nor Azman urged his mount along after the half-mile mark was put astern.
Favourite Real Efecto (Real Impact) was on the other hand back in amongst runners and by the time he saw daylight, Leatherhead who was in receipt of 5.5 kilograms from him, had already flown.
Topweight Pennywise (Pure Prize), was being hailed the winner for most of the home straight, but his featherweight stablemate Leatherhead (to whom Pennywise gave away nine kilograms) finished a touch better to score by half-a-length for the Le Grange quinella.
Real Efecto got a little caught on the backfoot but he found clear air, he worked home well, but couldn’t pass the two Le Grange horses to settle for third place a nose away.
Sent off at odds of $57, Leatherhead clocked the 1600 metres on Polytrack in 1.39.23 seconds to take his record to five wins and six placings from 33 starts for close to $210,000 in stakes earnings to Filipino owner Paolo Mendoza.
“I told Zy this horse needs to get going early, he’s a momentum horse, but it all depends on the speed when to time his run,” Le Grange said.
“I said around 600 metres to 400 metres and just let him come home. Zy is a nice young rider, I’ve given him horses a couple of times and he’s ridden Leatherhead perfectly.”
First is where the Chief wants to be
The Christmas break does not seem to have slowed up First Chief’s (Fastnet Rock) winning momentum as evidenced by his third win in a row when stepped up in grade on Sunday.
The Fastnet Rock (Danehill) seven-year-old, who raced as Cao Cao in Melbourne and Hong Kong, had been a letdown to connections since his arrival in 2020.
After trainers Jerome Tan and Young Keah Yong were unable to unlock his potential at his first six Kranji starts, trainer Jason Lim seemed to be hitting a brick wall as well when he took over at the beginning of last year.
But a fortuitous change to front-running tactics at his 14th run for Lim on Singapore Gold Cup day on November 14 finally triggered a turnaround.
Ridden by Oscar Chavez in that Class 5 race over the Polytrack 1200 metres that day, First Chief rolled forward never to be caught. Chavez later reported that his mount landed in front by default with no-one else keen to fill that role.
The gelding racked up another win in the same fashion at his next start in an identical event before making it a three-in-a-row while rising in class in Sunday’s $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race, but again over the all-weather six furlongs.
The main danger was Our Pinnacle (Pins) who looked poised to hand jockey Danny Beasley an early riding treble (after Lim’s Zoom and Al Green) when he came upsides at the 200 metres, and even edged past, but First Chief dug deep to get back in front by a nose at the line.
To illustrate the superiority of the duelling pair, Basilisk (Battle Paint) grabbed third place another four lengths away. The winning time was 1.11.49 seconds for the 1200 metres on the Polytrack.
“He was quite erratic in the way he raced, but sometime in November, we rolled him along and Oscar said that seemed to work for him,” Lim said.
“Today, we just told John to let him jump and bowl along. I thought he was beat at the 50 metres, but he showed he’s got a good fighting spirit when he went again.”
Attila the one in Open Maiden
Odds-on favourite Attila (Showcasing) quickly put behind the disappointment of a delayed racing debut from the tailend of last year with a flying start at the Singapore season opener six weeks later.
Trainer Shane Baertschiger had the Showcasing (Oasis Dream) four-year-old primed and ready for his baptism of fire in a novice race on Singapore Gold Cup day last November, but his waywardness got the better of him on the way to the starting gates when he stumbled and fell, and was subsequently scratched.
Jockey Manoel Nunes was unhurt, but the horse didn’t come out totally unscathed from the blunder, but luckily, the lacerations only necessitated a short healing time.
Baertschiger had to start all over again, but Attila progressed quickly, and more importantly, didn’t show any signs of having lost an iota of his early promise on the training tracks, highlighted by his winning barrier trial on December 23.
Sent out the $7 favourite, jockey Matthew Kellady asked him to lengthen up under hands-and-heels riding, the gap started to widen, but any hasty conclusion he was home and hosed was momentarily checked when second pick Holy Eleanor (Holy Roman Emperor) came eating into the margin, however it was not to trouble Attila at the finish.
Baertschiger’s newcomer, whom the Australian handler shares with a Singaporean owner under the Flak Jacket Stable, fell in by three-quarters of a length with Sugar Rush (Swiss Ace) another two and a half lengths away in third. The winning time was 1.13.26 seconds for the Polytrack 1200 metres.
“The way the track was riding today, he probably felt the ground towards the end, and got a bit tired. He’ll be better for the run,” Baertschiger said.
“There is a novice race over 1200 metres in two weeks, and that’s where he is going provided he pulls up well.”