By Sharon Zhang, Singapore Turf Club
Debutant Flying Nemo flashed home late in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race (1000m) to hand jockey Simon Kok Wei Hoong the perfect gift on his 27th birthday on Saturday.
The Desmond Koh-trained son of Vespa jumped well from barrier two before Kok dropped him to second last on the rails. The pair followed closely behind Golden Brown (Manoel Nunes) as Italian Revolution (Matthew Kellady) led the small field of seven.
The leader showed no signs up letting up at the 300m but a gap presented itself for Flying Nemo as $8 favourite Petrograd (Vlad Duric) rolled away. Flying Nemo ($38) darted through and bounded away to a two-length win from Italian Revolution.
Valerie (Danny Beasley) came from last to run third another one-and-a-quarter lengths away. The winning time was 59.31secs for the 1000m dash on the Polytrack.
Petrograd was bustled up from five-wide upon cornering, but with the tendency to hang out in the straight, he only managed to beat one home.
On the other hand, it was a day to celebrate for Kok who went on to pull off a brace after the Michael Clements-trained Fighter ($31) took out the $50,000 Class 4 race (2000m).
The young Malaysian hoop partnered Flying Nemo at his two barrier trials prior to his first run and was well aware of the improvement he has made.
“When I trialled him in the ORT (Official Race Trial on September 15 where he ran second to Sabah Win), he wasn’t showing much. He sort of just wants to jump and run in the beginning,” said the birthday boy.
“I trialled him twice and he improved well. At his last gallop, he showed that he is a bit more mature.
“We wanted to be closer to the pace but things didn’t work out so well at first. The pace got stronger later, we followed Nunes (Golden Brown) and Duric (Petrograd) and they brought us into the race well.
“When the gap opened, he sprinted away. His gallops are very strong and he has got an electric turn of foot.
“That’s his first run and I thought he could finish strong, but the only question mark was whether he handled the pressure and he did it very well today. This race was too easy for him (laughs)!
“Big credit to the stable and the assistant-trainers (Lee Soo Hin and Leong Yoon Fei) for preparing him well for the race. I think he can get the 1200m too.
“Happy with two winners on my birthday!”
Lee was the one who roped in Kok for the steering job from the start but the connections did not expect the three-year-old gelding to score on debut.
“I was a bit surprised to see him win because we thought Petrograd and Golden Brown would be too good,” said the former jockey who is deputising for Koh at the winner’s circle.
“I asked Simon to ride him for the trials because he’s got a good pair of hands.
“It was always the plan for him to sit behind because he isn’t as speedy as the other horses.
“It’s nice to give Simon a birthday gift today and to see him (Flying Nemo) win for the new owners (Nemo Stable).
“The owners are Singaporean businessmen and friends of Desmond, and they bought the horse together at the (New Zealand Bloodstock) National Online Yearling Sale last year.
“He costed only NZ$7,000, what a good buy! We might set him for a Novice race next.”
With that first win from his only start in Singapore, Flying Nemo has now earned more than $40,000 in prizemoney for the connections.
Four races later, Scooter (A’Isisuhairi Kasim, $71) gave Koh a double after he returned to winning ways in the $30,000 Class 5 race (1700m), more than two years after his last win on August 2020.
