Upsides to Katak ‘scare’ Le Grange
South African import Katak (Potala Palace) well and truly put behind the disappointment of his early Singapore showings with an emphatic win in yesterday’s Kranji Stakes A race over 1600 metres.
The five-year-old entire was chalking up his second win at Kranji following his local breakthrough in a Class 2 event over 1400 metres five weeks previously.
However, after landing with impressive credentials, the general consensus was he had flattered to deceive when beaten in each of his first four starts for new connections.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been judged too hastily though, and his trainer Ricardo Le Grange ignored the brickbats and has now been rewarded for staying in Katak’s corner.
“His mannerisms are more those of a real racehorse now, he has improved so much,” said Le Grange after yesterday’s victory.
“Danny (Beasley) jumped off saying he is looking for a mile and a quarter and even a mile and a half.
“He’s so much easier to train now, and to see him win like that and still cry for more ground, it’s pretty scary.
“It’s always a pleasure to have Danny on, he rode the horse beautifully.”
While the first win was forged with some degree of challenge, the second win had shades of a one-way traffic the moment Beasley drove Katak to the lead.
It was longshot Sacred Croix (Savabeel) who finished the best among the beaten brigade, wrestling second place from Heartening Flyer (Excelebration) by one length, two lengths astern. The winning time was 1min 35.61secs for the 1600 metres on the Short Course.
Beasley said: “He has improved a lot from his first win just from the way he travels underneath you. Ricky has done a wonderful job with him and you can feel it every time you ride him.
“He wouldn’t be out of place in New Zealand and would also be competitive over a mile and a half in pretty good company in Australia.
“He will only get better with more racing. There’s still more improvement to come out of him.”
Fitzsimmons dedicates big haul to hard-working staff
A thankful Tim Fitzsimmons gave kudos to his stable staff following the yard’s four wins on yesterday’s 11-race programme.
Having won three of the first four races on the card courtesy of victories for Fireworks (Ekraar), The Bullet (Deep Field) and Born To Win (Haradasun) – all favourites and ridden by Manoel Nunes – the trainer went on the notch a fourth success when the Jake Bayliss-ridden Nate’s Honour (Turffontein) obliged in race six.
“I was off the whole week with Covid, and left everything to my staff and their leader Jaya. A big thank you to them,” said Fitzsimmons.
“Without them, I couldn’t have come up with the big day we had today. I thought the first two (Fireworks and The Bullet) were my best chances, and I was spot-on, it was a great start to the day.
“It’s my first four-timer since I began training here three years ago. I’ve had some trebles, but this is the first time I’ve won four.”
Bayliss doubles up
Having ridden his first winner in Singapore when Nate’s Honour triumphed, it did not take Jake Bayliss long to double his tally as he was back in winner’s enclosure two races later after scoring on the Ricardo Le Grange-trained Rocket Ryane (Deep Field).
“I had pencilled down the first two rides as my two best chances. So when they both ran second, my two bullets were gone and I thought I was done for the day,” Bayliss said.
“But I kept showing up and got the win with another horse. Tim (Fitzsimmons) told me to be positive, positive, positive with this horse (Nate’s Honour) and don’t let the others come too close.
“Put the brakes on, and only increase the pace from the 600 metres.”
Fitzsimmons added: “Jake was a bit down when he walked down to the parade ring, he just had another second.
“I told him to just be patient and it’ll come, and it came straight away. He’s had four or five rides for me before that, and he rode all of them perfectly.
“I’m sure he’ll ride plenty of winners here.”