By Larry Foley, Singapore Turf Club
The newly-transferred Paletas won the $75,000 Class 3 race over 1000m on the Polytrack for his new owner and trainer – Jason Lim – paying back his recent investment quickly and in spades.
Last Saturday, the Iffraaj gelding was still trained by Michael Clements and owned by the Appointed Whale stable, and he probably had another agenda.
Now with a change in connections and the in-form jockey Koh Teck Huat riding, Paletas ($28) settled comfortably in a handy position on the rails in a small field of six with the $10 race favourite Darc Bounty and jockey Blake Shinn dictating terms in front.
The even-money shot looked to have the race at his mercy when kicking clear early in the straight but could not quite put away the chasing pack at the 200m.
Shinn got busy but with Darc Bounty rolling off the fence, Koh saw daylight on the paint and it was game on in a very bunched field.
It was anyone’s race with 100m to go but Paletas – who only won two starts back over 1200m on the Polytrack (albeit in Class 4) – was always going to be strong late and won comfortably by one length under hard-riding by Koh.
His win was somewhat dominating given the blanket finish behind him with Street Cry Success (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) getting the photo for second by a nose over Big Tiger (Iskandar Rosman), with Romantic (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) another nose away in fourth.
As quipped by race caller Pat Comerford, the judges certainly had to earn their keep after early leader Darc Bounty finished a short head away in fifth, and last but not least, Siam Warrior (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) finished in sixth with another nose the margin.
The winning time was 58.81 secs for the 1000m on the Polytrack and Paletas’ sixth win in 19 starts took his prizemoney earned to-date to over $220,000.
Lim only had the horse in his care for eight days, so the Singaporean trainer did not have much to comment on post-race.
“He came over from (trainer) Mike’s (Clements) in very good order,” he said.
“I only gave him a gallop on Tuesday as he was fit and well but it was good to give Koh a feel of him before the race.
“He had won recently (July 9) and he (Koh) is riding with such confidence, I thought we were a good chance.”
And what of the bargain buy by the happy new owner?
“My numbers were getting low so I was on the lookout for any available horses,” explained Lim.
“I know (previous owner) Carl and heard that he wanted to sell him, so I had a chat and bought him last Saturday.
“He’s only just turned six and he won easy enough in Class 4 last month. He still has plenty to offer but it’s very good to get a winning result so soon.
“I didn’t see the gap that opened on the rails from where I was watching so I’m glad Koh did – he really is riding well at the moment – and it couldn’t have been a better start.”
Koh – who had ridden Cash Cove ($35) to victory earlier in the card in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m (see previous report) to make it back-to-back meetings with a double – didn’t overthink things before the race.
“I just rode for luck,” said the wining hoop to racing presenter Scott Bailey after weighing in.
“Because the favourite had drawn on the inside, there was room for me to go (when Darc Bounty rolled off the fence) and the horse responded well.
“I watched his replay when he won over 1000m and in the small field, (again) I just rode for luck.”
Worthy mentions on the card
Besides Koh, jockeys Vlad Duric, Wong Chin Chuen and apprentice jockey Yusoff Fadzli also managed to pull off a brace on the 11-race card meeting.
Duric continued his good association with Eastiger ($12) in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m before winning the Lucky Last on another favourite in Gold Ten Sixty-One ($8) in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m.
Wong got the job done on the heavily-supported debutant – Pacific Star ($9) – in the $20,000 Maiden race over 1200m while Gold Kingdom ($27) brought up his double only two races later in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1600m.
The in-demand three kilos-claimer Yusoff won for his trainer Donna Logan on Aftermath ($21) in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m before scoring handsomely on the impressive David Kok-trained Lord Justice ($16) in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1100m.
In the training ranks, Logan again saddled a double with Aftermath and Eastiger, while Japanese handler Hideyuki Takaoka led in Angel Halo ($55) in the $30,000 Class 5 race over 1600m and Quadcopter ($24) in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1200m.
