By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
Shang Chi scored his maiden win in impressive fashion at his second outing in Singapore.
The four-year-old son of Dissident arrived at Kranji last November on the back of three placings (970m) in seven starts in New Zealand, when prepared by Cambridge trainer Trevor da Cruz.
Despite drawing the widest at his debut in an Open Maiden race over the 1200m two weeks ago, the Shane Baertschiger-trained gelding stormed home to run third to Blazing Kid.
“He drew a wide barrier at his first start, went back to last but flew home the fastest last sectional (22.57 seconds in 400m), so I thought he could run well this time,” said Baertschiger of his eighth 2022 winner.
“He had a better barrier (six) today, and he was also placed in three runs on the Poly(track) in New Zealand before. He can probably run up to the 1400m.
“I’ll see how he pulls up and I might run him in a Novice race over the 1200m in two weeks’ time (April 17).
“I got introduced to (Hong Kong owner) Mr Kwok (Chun Wai) through a friend in Australia and this is his first horse with me.
“He’s had the same name since he ran in New Zealand, but I didn’t know if he’s named after the Marvel movie character until someone told me!”
The fictional character Shang-Chi was popularised through the Marvel film “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” last year when it hit the big screen.
Shang Chi sure showed he was real from the way he ran rings around his rivals in the $20,000 Open Maiden race over 1100m.
Zestful (Mohd Zaki), Battle Win (Krisna Thangamani) and Happy Wonderful (Shafiq Rizuan) wrestled for the lead upfront for most of the journey, but upon turning into the straight, jockey Matthew Kellady already had his mount peeled out for the final assault.
Shang Chi ($18) skipped away to go and score a soft win. City Gate (Akmazani Mazuki) plugged on to finish second three-and-a-half lengths away, while race-favourite Golden Monkey (Oscar Chavez) ran another two-and-a-half lengths away to finish in third.
The winning time was 1 min 06.22secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
Debutant Rahotu (Manoel Nunes) was the raging favourite to win the race, but the five-year-old son of Invincible Spirit was a late scratching after he got cast and flipped over in the gates.
One man’s loss is another man’s gain.
“When I saw the favourite (Rahotu) flip over, my confidence grew,” said the Ipoh-born Kellady.
“He is a horse that came with a lot of race experience, so he’s well-educated and not green at all.
“He jumped very well today and put himself behind the speed. Then, he just did the rest by himself.
“When I fired him up, it was all over.”
Bought for NZ$120,000, Shang Chi has accumulated NZ$7,700 from two seconds and one third in New Zealand, and has now made another $12,000 in Singapore with his first win and one third in two starts here.
