Veteran galloper Sacred Guru was back in the winner’s enclosure after a long hiatus by taking out the feature race at Selangor on Sunday, the Metro A event over 1500m.
The 10-year-old raced by Raffles Racing had not been sighted in the winner’s enclosure for close to two and a half years, but that all changed on Sunday thanks to a tactically brilliant ride by jockey SU Lim.
On a day when most of the leaders had an advantage, Lim, starting from the widest position in barrier 10, utilized the gelding’s tactical speed to seize control of the race in the early stages.
“The instruction was to sit handy but the pace was too slow so I decided to lead,” said Lim, who was on his second sitting on Sacred Guru after partnering him for the first time last week when narrowly beaten into second place. “He has improved a lot from his run last week.”
Trainer Frank Maynard, who celebrated a double on the day after winning race 10 with Under Oath, hopes his thriving old-timer makes the cut in the forthcoming Selangor Gold Cup.
“Obviously, I would have liked him to win last week,” said trainer Frank Maynard. “I backed him up because he has been working like a Class 1 horse. On trackwork, he proved that he is up to the better level.
“Hopefully full steam ahead in a fortnight (in the Selangor Gold Cup) and he might get in on the minimum (weight).”
Maynard wasn’t the only trainer to secure a double on the day.
Leading trainer Richard Lines won races 1 and race 9 with Rahotu and Black Quail, respectively, while HY Cheng won races 4 and 8 with Happy Birthday and Shang Chi.
Sharee Hamilton also walked away with a double after winning races 2 and 11 with My Money and Terms Of Reference, the 11-year-old proving age is just a number after stringing together two big-margin wins in the space of 15 days.
