By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange knew he could not lose when Leatherhead and Pennywise kicked clear from the rest in the $70,000 Class 3 race over 1700m on Saturday.
He could be heard screaming from the stands, even if the result going either way would not have mattered much.
It was Leatherhead who got the nod from a gallant Pennywise with a short head separating them on the photo print, but the South African handler would have been just as stoked had the results been flipped.
“It’s a great feeling to go through the furlong when you have two horses fighting it out, and there was a bit of a gap to the third horse (Tangible),” said the former assistant-trainer to ex-Kranji trainer Patrick Shaw.
“Both horses ran exceptionally well, but Pennywise’s got a big weight (58kgs).
“Once he (Leatherhead) got to the back of Pennywise, I thought it’s going to be hard for him not to run him down because of the light(er) weight (55kgs).
“It was a great drive from Jake (Bayliss).”
Leatherhead was more forward early, but was joined by Pennywise (Wong Chin Chuen) down the back as they took a drop right behind leader Preditor (Matthew Kellady).
But when the latter compounded, they immediately took over to settle for a good go down the home straight.
Pennywise’s drought of 853 days looked all set to end as he bulldogged his way along the rails, but his stablemate loves a good scrap, too.
For a while, it looked like Leatherhead would fall short tried as he might, but under Jake Bayliss’s hard riding, he kept pouring on the pressure to eventually get the win by a short head.
Favourite Tangible did himself no favours with a tardy getaway, then looking a forlorn hope when caught behind a wall of horses upon straightening. The last-start winner did see daylight when Manoel Nunes hooked him to the outside, but it was too little too late as he came in third another two lengths away.
The winning time was 1min 46.15 secs for the 1700m on the Polytrack.
Bayliss, who was returning from a two-day suspension for careless riding, rode Leatherhead for the first time at the barrier trials on Thursday and was immediately taken by what he had underneath him.
“Leatherhead gave me a good feel during the trial,” said Bayliss, who had girlfriend Hollee Bohr at the races for the first time since he began his Singapore stint in mid-February this year.
“And the more I watched his replays, the more confident I was of him.
“We tried to be positive today, and I was happy to roll forward.
“He’s more of a momentum horse, but I was held up a little bit at the corner.
“They are both good quality horses. I knew Pennywise was going to dig deep, but I also knew my horse was going to come at him in the end.
“Credit to the horse and the trainer. I ride a lot of trackwork for Donna (Logan) and for Ricardo, it’s kind of a routine. The support is great, but it’s even better getting the results.
“Hollee is a big help behind the scenes and she had been the one keeping me sane (laughs).”
Leatherhead has now taken his record to six wins and six placings from 36 starts for total stakes earnings of more than $340,000 to his owner.
Le Grange went on to score a double with Renzo (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) winning the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1100m in the next race.
The brace brought his total number of wins to 16, tied with Michael Clements and Jason Ong, but in second place on a superior number of seconds.
Clements had a fruitless day while Ong took the training honours with a four-timer, courtesy of Per Incrown, Surrey Hills, High Voltage and The Wild Prince (see previous report).
The current leader on the trainers’ premiership remains Tim Fitzsimmons, even after he led in only one winner, Ace Sovereign, taking his score to 19.
