By Larry Foley, Singapore Turf Club
The Lucky Unicorn stable had both race favourite Lucky Jinsha and outsider Ocean Crossing running in the $100,000 Kranji Stakes A race (1100m) on Saturday, but they found themselves cheering the latter on as he flew home in the highlight race of the day.
Trained by Michael Clements, Ocean Crossing had tasted first-up success previously over this trip and track two years ago in a Class 3 race, but given the quality of this field and his preference for staying events, the race on Saturday looked an almost impossible task.
It was more so when jockey Simon Kok Wei Hoong was stood down due to a fracture in his right shoulder and jockey Amirul Ismadi – who had not ridden a winner since Metal World back in March 2022 – was the late replacement. Connections would have been hard-pressed to expect anything bar a ‘solid effort late’ by the seven-year-old son of All Too Hard.
But with a hot early pace and some of the more fancied runners – including Lucky Jinsha ($12) – doing it tough punching the breeze upfront, the winner was anyone’s guess on turning for home with Ocean Crossing – beaten for early speed as expected – at the rear of the field.
Lim’s Dream (Benny Woodworth) led them into the straight but all eyes were on Lucky Jinhsa at the 300m when he challenged and put his nose in front as backers cheered on every move of his.
The cheers were mooted quickly when Lucky Jinsha looked to be battling and his race was over in an instant with Surpass Natural (Jerlyn Seow) and then Sacred Gift (Wong Chin Chuen) making their moves at the 200m.
That pair had company though, with Rocket Star (Marc Lerner) and Sky Eye (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) also in the mix. Race caller Pat Comerford’s job was made even tougher when Ocean Crossing ($106) made his late run to beat all eventually.
Surpass Natural – who did it tougher than most as he was four-wide on the pace throughout – was more than impressive to hold on for second one-and-a-quarter lengths away, with Rocket Star another head away in third and Sacred Gift a nose back in fourth. The winning time was 1 min 4.12secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack and Ocean Crossing’s seventh career win took his prizemoney earnings to over $330,000.
Clements, while pleasantly surprised by the win, was not shocked given Ocean Crossing’s previous form fresh.
“He can really show up like he did today,” said Clements to racing presenter Scott Baily after the race.
“The last time he did it (win) was under a similar circumstance to today, as you say, coming back from a break but probably in a lower Class compared to today’s race.
“He’s a horse who has always had a lot of ability and I’d like to thank the owners who have been very patient with him. He had an injury and was sidelined for sometime.
“We would look for a race in an easier Class over a bit more distance after this race, but a great ride and great win by him today.
“We all thought Lucky Jinsha was the one to beat but it wasn’t his day today. The owners’ other horse got up; so good for them.”
No one was happier with the surprise win than replacement rider Amirul, who was all smiles when interviewed by Bailey after weighing in.
“Always a pleasure to ride a winner in Singapore,” said the Ipoh-born hoop.
“Especially this is on the first meeting of the season. I couldn’t be happier.”
When asked about the horse, Amirul did not have much time to analyse the race given his late call-up but knew what he had at his disposal.
“He’s very nice when fresh. I had a look at the handicaps (carried 51.5kgs) and he’s a backmarker, so when they went very fast, I knew he would have a nice finish.”
Notable mentions
Last year’s champion jockey Manoel Nunes and champion trainer Tim Fitzsimmons started the new season where they left off after they combined with Mister Dynamo to win the opening race, the $30,000 Class 5 race (1000m).
Nunes added one more winner – the Jason Lim-trained Cosmic Dancer in the $20,000 Open Maiden race over 1100m – but it was A’Isisuhairi who took the riding honours on the opening day with a treble.
A’Isisuhairi – who fortuitously (given the treble) cut short a riding stint in Dubai to be with his pregnant wife and young family – booted home his first winner, Super Generous, for trainer Leslie Khoo in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m before making it a double two races later on the longest of long shots, Rumble ($486), in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m for his ex-boss, Steven Burridge.
The former two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey’s treble came up in the very next race after the promising Sabah Ace made it three wins from as many starts in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m for trainer David Kok.
