By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
Strong N Best recorded his first win on turf in the $70,000 Class 3 race over the mile on Saturday.
The Kuah Cheng Tee-trained miler had three wins to his name, all over the Polytrack, but his most recent run on the other surface was not too disappointing either. He ran third, just half-a-length behind Circuit Mission, in another Class 3 race over the 1400m three starts ago.
With the $1 million Group 1 Kranji Mile (1600m) coming up in a month’s time (May 21), his Singaporean trainer was hoping to see the Kranji Mile nominee prove himself to be just as effective on turf.
“It’s a rather open field, but we’ve got a light weight (53kgs), so there was some confidence,” said the 46-year-old trainer of his fourth winner this year.
“But when the track was downgraded to ‘yielding’ because of the heavy rain earlier, we were a bit worried because he has never won on yielding ground.
“Hopefully, he can run in the Kranji Mile, but if he doesn’t get in, we’d have to re-plan things for him.
“Harry rode him very well this time.”
With regular partner John Sundradas suspended, jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim (better known as “Harry”) took the reins on the five-year-old son of Rock ‘N’ Pop for the first time. He settled him in midfield position, one-off the fence.
At the 300m, hot favourite Real Efecto (Manoel Nunes) could not muster an acceleration while leader Pennywise looked to be holding on well under four-kilo claiming apprentice jockey Akmazani Mazuki.
Yet, they had not reckoned with Strong N Best (A’Isisuhairi Kasim), who braved through a small gap between Pennywise and Elite Incredible (Jake Bayliss), in search of galloping room upon straightening.
Once the $22 shot found daylight, he pulled away to a convincing win, finishing one-and-three-quarter lengths ahead of Trumpy (Oscar Chavez), who burst onto the scene late from last.
So Hi Class (Shafrizal Saleh) finished another one-and-a-quarter lengths away in third. Pennywise missed out the podium finish by a head. The winning time was 1 min 35.15secs on the Long Course over the mile.
Despite the slow early tempo, A’Isisuhairi was glad that the Yong Yong Stable-owned gelding managed to relax and sprint home for a compelling win.
“It was a nice and confident win from him,” said the natural lightweight rider from Kelantan.
“The main key here was to get him to relax early when the tempo wasn’t going fast enough, but luckily, I have got him underneath me.
“He had the blinkers on, so it was nice to see him settle down well and not over-race.
“He was travelling very well. When he found daylight at the top of the straight, he really hit the line strongly.
“He won two starts ago, and I thought his last run was not bad (fifth to Leatherhead on April 9).
“I rode him a couple of times for slow work this week. This horse showed lots of promise.
“He is a good miler, but he can go even further.
“Today, he was rock-hard fit, so credit to the trainer. It’s also good for me to ride another winner.”
The last time the former two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey got on the board was two weeks ago when he registered a double (Super Incredible and Renzo) on April 9.
With four wins and six placings in 16 starts, Strong N Best has amassed over $170,000 in prizemoney for his connections.
