By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
Relative newcomer Cash Cove lowered the colours of $7 hot favourite Luxury Brand to score in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m on Sunday.
Luxury Brand, who lost by a nose to the more fancied stablemate Fadaboy on debut two weeks ago, was widely tipped by punters to get off the mark second-up.
Luxury Brand (Yusoff Fadzli) took up the lead after jumping smartly from barrier one in the small field of seven (after Typhoon was scratched behind the gates), with Cash Cove (Koh Teck Huat) close in attendance on his outside.
Yusoff gave a few cracks of the whip at the 350m, but Cash Cove ($35) kept chipping away at the margins, eventually taking the upper hand from Luxury Brand.
Half-a-length was the margin that separated both three-year-old sons of Charm Spirit, while Supreme One (Hakim Kamaruddin) finished another three-and-a-quarter lengths away in third.
The winning time was 1min 4.55secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
Winning trainer Alwin Tan was on hand to lead in his eighth winner of the season with local owners Ivan Neo and his wife Ivy from the Cash Cove Stable.
The Singaporean handler was grateful to the connections who lent him a helping hand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He actually had horses with (ex-Kranji trainer) Tan Hor Khoon last time, but HK left a few years ago (called time on training in 2018),” said Tan.
“As you know, I don’t have many horses with me. I contacted him during the Covid-19 pandemic last year and got him to support me.
“Now, he has about seven to eight horses with me. He also bought three other new horses, two of them have arrived but not yet registered, and there’s another one on the way.”
Tan reckoned the addition of blinkers for the first time and an open field helped Cash Cove to open his account.
“The blinkers helped him today, and the field was not very strong either, so we could get a comfortable run just behind the pace,” he said.
“The win came as a bit of a surprise, but because it’s an open field, I knew he could run better today.
“Thanks to (jockey) CC (Wong Chin Chuen) who rode him in trackwork everyday and said he needed a gear to keep him focused, so I let him wear the blinkers today.
“CC already had another riding engagement (Coffee King) two weeks ago, so we went with TH (Teck Huat) Koh today. He rode him well.
“He’s (Cash Cove) by the stallion Charm Spirit (2014 Group 1 QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner), so I believe he can run up to 1400m and the mile in future.
“I’ll take a look at the programme and see what comes up before discussing with the owners where to run him next.”
Tan’s last two winners (Atlantean on June 4 and July 24) were also ridden by the underrated Singaporean jockey who hit his straps in the last four months, chalking up 11 winners out of his tally of 17 wins thus far.
“The instruction from the trainer was to let him stay beside the favourite and he worked home very well,” said Koh, who bagged a double after winning aboard Paletas ($28) in the $70,000 Class 3 race (1000m) eight races later (see later report).
“It’s my first time riding him and the blinkers sharpened him up. It was a nice run and he was not green at all.
“He can go over longer, but for now, this trip suits him better.”
Bought from the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run virtual Sale for NZ$11,000, Cash Cove has now earned more than $40,000 in prizemoney for the Singaporean businessman after getting off the mark as his third start.
