By Scott Bailey
This Sunday October 5th marks twelve months to the day 183 years of racing history ended in Singapore. The Grand Singapore Gold Cup was run for the final time at Kranji. It was a fittingly dramatic end with outsider Smart Star, trained by local horseman David Kok and ridden by South African-based Muzi Yeni, delivered a surprise in front of a nostalgic but sombre crowd.
Since that historic day, Singapore’s racing community has dispersed across the region and beyond, reshaping the racing landscape in Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand and other regions. Twelve months on, the stories of the horses, trainers, and jockeys who once called Kranji home show how resilient and adaptable the sport’s participants have been. While big jurisdictions such as the Hong Kong Jockey Club & Korea Racing Authority were quick to attract the skill and experience of track riders, grooms, and other people of interest after racing wound up.
Malaysia was always going to be the most natural landing spot after Kranji’s closure, and so it has proven. With countless float trips in the months after the last race. Horses were transported across the causeway, quarantined for flights to Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and a few handy ones even went to Hong Kong. There were many doubters in the early stages that the procedure to get horses out by a certain date would never happen but to the credit of those involved, the mass number of horses were sent to their desired destinations safely and much quicker than first expected.
Smart Star, the last Singapore Gold Cup hero, has added just one victory at Class 1 level in Malaysia since his Group 1 triumph. His trainer David Kok quickly re-established himself, preparing many winners since opening his Malaysian operation at the end of last year.
The biggest splash, however, has come from Jason Ong. Singapore’s reigning champion trainer wasted no time cementing his reputation in Kuala Lumpur. His strike rate and volume of winners have already placed him at the top of the trainers’ premiership, capped by a breakthrough Group 1 victory at Perak Turf Club with Filial Dragon, ridden by former local Singaporean Troy See.
Ong has been joined in Malaysia by other Singapore stalwarts, including Richard Lim, Jerome Tan, and Mahadi Bin Taib, ensuring that much of the professional core of the local Singaporean brigade has now been absorbed by Selangor and Perak.
Singapore has been home to some big training names from all over the globe for many decades with the likes of Ivan Allan, John Meagher, Pat Shaw, Laurie Laxon & Lee Freedman among many others and there were still a few expat trainers who honed their skills in that final season deciding to stay until the very end.
Daniel Meagher was always going to attract plenty of attention on what was the next phase in his career after a huge run of Group 1 victories over the last few seasons. Meagher himself has set up at Pakenham, returning to his native Victoria to build a stable that retains the quality and ambition of his Singapore days and is continuing to grow. During his relocation he brought two of Singapore’s pin-up horses to Australia with him.
Ten-time Group 1 winner Lim’s Kosciuszko ran an eye-catching debut at Flemington in The Straight Six, the multiple Horse of The Year star has since found the going tougher, with two unplaced runs in July.
Group 1 Singapore Derby & Raffles Cup winner Lim’s Saltoro has had four Melbourne starts, his best effort so far is a second placing at Caulfield.
Meagher was not alone in moving back to Victoria. Tim Fitzsimmons, another Australian and local Victorian who forged his name at Kranji as an assistant trainer to Cliff Brown before setting up his own shop and claiming the 2022 Trainers Premiership, has based himself at Bendigo. His operation has started brightly: 14 winners from around 70 runners, a healthy 20% strike rate. But the stable star Golden Monkey, so promising in Singapore including a Group 1 Derby and multiple group wins, has failed to fire in three Australian starts and has not been seen at the track since June.
For Donna Logan, the closure of Kranji meant a return to familiar ground. The Kiwi trainer has set up at Byerley Park south of Auckland. While her new stable is still in its infancy the signs are positive as she reconnects with the tracks where she first made her name and secured plenty of Group success.
The Malaysian circuit has become the new centre of gravity for Singapore’s riders. Jerlyn Seow, Singapore’s first female champion apprentice, is now well clear in the Malaysian Apprentice Title and looks destined for bigger honours.
She is joined at Selangor by Troy See, Fadzli Yusoff, Rosman Iskandar, and Mohd Zaki, a strong collective that has given Malaysia’s riding ranks both depth and profile.
French jockey Marc Lerner, a regular partner of the Lim’s team in Singapore found his way to New Zealand after October. He notched up 10 winners during his time there before heading to Malaysia to rejoin the Asian scene and continues to be based there.
Popular Malaysian born Harry Kasim now calls South Korea home with his young family, where he is based at Seoul Racecourse and is regularly seen booting home winners on the sand track each weekend. The talented rider has experienced riding in Malaysia, Australia, and the middle east. Kasim is joined in Korea by CC Wong & Ruan Maia with all three having tasted Group 1 success during their careers at Kranji.
Australian jockey Daniel Moor had a few stints at Kranji over the past 10 years and always referred to Singapore as his second home and he was not going to miss the final season. He teamed up with many Kranji stables over the years with plenty of success. After October the multiple Group 1 winning rider returned home to Melbourne where he continued his trade with the big stables he has ridden for season after season. He has just recently moved to Queensland to try his hand in a new state and is off to a great start.
Bruno Queiroz who is the godson of champion rider Joao Moreira claimed the final Singapore Jockeys Premiership in the final race on the day defeating Manoel Nunes’ bid for a sixth Singapore title and was a rising star in those final two seasons. After a stint back in his local Brazil, Queiroz has decided to base himself in New Zealand where he is seen riding for the big stables including former Singapore based trainers Mark Walker & Stephen Gray both quick to add them to their riding lists. The young jockey has booted home over 30 winners in New Zealand to date.
Five-time champion rider Manoel Nunes ventured to Adelaide, South Australia for a taste test before Singapore’s final meeting and that was enough to entice the well-travelled rider for a permanent base. Nunes rode 34 winners around South Australia and one at Ascot in Western Australia before being lured back to Mauritius where he currently rides as their new season gets underway.
Ryan Curatolo is a name that has is seen is form guides all around the world and after Singapore the jockey with a saddle bag in one hand and a plane ticket in the other had stints in Japan which included a G1 win on the NAR circuit and also a short-timed stint in Queensland while even making a cameo appearance at Murray Bridge in South Australia teaming up with Tim Fitzsimmons and the Gold Stable before following Nunes to Mauritius after he was approached to hone his skills on the tropical island.
While many of Singapore’s leading professionals have found new bases in racing, others have taken different paths. Some have opted for career changes, some for early retirement, and a few are still weighing their options as the industry continues to evolve.
Twelve months on from that poignant afternoon when Smart Star stormed to victory one final time, the legacy of Kranji and its community lives on in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. Horses, trainers, owners, and jockeys may now be spread across the region, but together they are carrying forward the talent and success that saw them reach big heights in Singapore that no doubt they look on with fond memories.
