South Of The River puts debut flop behind him
A beaten favourite on debut usually puts punters off, but South Of The River’s (Statue Of Liberty) pulsating win second-up on Saturday proved that such flops should not be written off too soon at times.
After a weakening ninth as the hotpot in a novice race on 1200 metres turf at his first Kranji assignment on November 14, South Of The River didn’t take long to reassure connections that they had not been saddled with a dud.
He did bounce back with a 12-length barrier trial win six weeks later, but some knockers may still argue it proves nothing as only a real race is the litmus test, but the Statue Of Liberty four-year-old’s romp was so impressive this time that his $7 odds before Saturday’s $20,000 Open Maiden race over 1000 metres were a clear indication they were prepared to forgive his first run.
And punters and connections alike were not disappointed this time around. South Of The River showed that his sparkling trial form was no flash in the pan with an almost carbon-copy demolition job.
Ridden by Oscar Chavez (debut partner Louis-Philippe Beuzelin is suspended and trial partner Manoel Nunes went for Gold Cut), South Of The River led out from main danger and favourite Gold Cut (Reward For Effort) with newcomer Fabu (Street Boss) and Tesoro Pirata (Orpen) next in the running line, and that was the shape of things to come in the end.
The first four finished in that order with the only difference being the winning margin. South Of The River hosed up by seven lengths from Gold Cut, who just beat Fabu to second place by a nose. Tesoro Pirata took fourth place, another length away.
South Of The River ran the Polytrack 1000-metre distance in the smart time of 58.46secs, which is only 0.76 second outside the record held by all-weather champion Nova Swiss (Swiss Ace).
Winning trainer Michael Clements was at a loss to explain why South Of The River fluffed his lines at his first race, but did hazard three guesses to account for the radical improvement on Saturday.
“I think there is a combination of three reasons to today’s win,” said the 2020 Singapore champion trainer.
“He benefited from that first run, I think he also enjoyed the Polytrack, and the blinkers helped.
“He’s very green and has a nervous disposition. Normally blinkers are meant to wake horses up, but they help him settle and concentrate better, he was also a lot more focused.
“He showed so much that we felt he would win first-up. We prepared him for that run and we were reasonably confident he would go well.
“But he was pretty plain on the turf. There was absolutely no problem from that first run, but he just seems to act so much better on Polytrack, and I also think he took out a lot of that first run in terms of fitness and experience.
“We carried on with his preparation and today, he was excellent, and we saw what we expected first-up.”
The Greenwood Stable is a new owner Clements just welcomed to his fold, and was delighted their first purchase could be something out of the box.
“I think there are some owners who had shares in horses around, but not with me. They are new owners to me and they bought that horse from a Victoria trial via some friend of theirs,” said Clements.
“They did put that trial past me for my go-ahead and I did tell them from the way he trialled, he had quite a lot of speed and should be a horse that would suit Singapore.”
Impressive debut win for Dancing Light
Tivic Stable seems to have unearthed another quality galloper in Dancing Light (Street Boss) following an impressive debut win on Saturday.
The three-year-old son of Street Boss (Street Cry) cost AU$200,000 as a yearling at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale in 2020, and has quickly shown trainer Tim Fitzsimmons and the owners of past greats like Stepitup (Hussonet) and Bold Thruster (Turffontein), it was money well spent from day one.
“He’s the perfect type, even if he has a few mental quirks,” said Fitzsimmons.
“I’ve taken him along slowly and he’s been coping well with all his work. He’s quite a nervous horse, and can get a bit hot, but all things considered, he wasn’t too bad in the parade ring at his first start.
“For sure he’s not been an easy horse to train as he’s also had a few minor issues, but we’ve been able to bring him along slowly.
“Manoel (Nunes) has done a lot of work with him in December when a lot of the jockeys had gone home. He rode him very well, and told me he won on raw ability today, he’s still very green.
“Once Manoel got him to change his legs at the top of the straight, he found the line very well.
“I’m really thankful to the Tivic Stable for the opportunity with this well-bred specimen that Peter Twomey bought for AU$200,000 as a yearling.”
With the purse of $75,000 up for grabs in those Restricted Maidens, Dancing Light has already recouped around a fifth ($40,000) of his price tag with that maiden victory in the Polytrack 1100-metre event.
The win also handed Nunes his first win in 2022 after sitting out the kickoff meeting on January 2 because of a one-day careless riding suspension.
After a three-year absence at Kranji, the former three-time Singapore champion jockey made a riding comeback at the last month (November) of the racing calendar with a remarkable record of eight winners in only 32 rides on the board, which many read as a foretaste of what could well be his season this year.
The Brazilian ace was indeed at his frontrunning best in the way he bounced Dancing Light ($16) out to the front, and then saved him for that last dash inside the last 400 metres on his way towards a 1 ¼-length win from Big Green Hat (Odyssey Moon) with another debutant Deception (I Am Invincible) third another neck away, just ahead of Dabble (Pure Champion) by a short head.
Dancing Light clocked the Polytrack 1100 metres in 1min 5.63secs.
As for Fitzsimmons, with whom Nunes had already forged a successful association with four winners (half of his tally of eight) at that one-month stint, Dancing Light’s win ties the Australian with Stephen Gray on two winners. Cliff Brown’s former assistant-trainer, who, since his Kranji debut in 2019, enjoyed his best season last year with a fourth finish on 33 winners, opened his 2022 account with Den Of Thieves (El Roca) in the last race of the opening day.