Cancer survivor Mr Malek added a second Group win to his career with a thrilling win in the $110,000 Group 3 Kranji Sprint (1200m) on Saturday.
It had been almost two years since the Steven Burridge-trained gelding last won in a race, which was also his first Group win in the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) in July 2021 for that matter.
Remarkably, the six-year-old son of Swiss Ace was second-up after a neck cancer that required surgery. That happened after an underwhelming campaign late last year, which culminated in an unplaced run in the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) in November.
After five few months on the sidelines, Mr Malek was not only back trialling, but also thriving, so much so that his first-up run in the Group 1 Kranji Mile was a belter as he ran on strongly to finish third in the race won by Lim’s Kosciuszko. But the jury was out whether he could show his best dropping back to the 1200m in this first Leg of the STC Super Sprint series.
With King Arthur scratched before the meeting, a good clip early from Silent Is Gold and Sky Eye would be in Mr Malek’s favour, but when Sky Eye was also withdrawn before the race on veterinary grounds, the tempo was now questionable in the final six-horse field.
But Mr Malek’s camp had no reason to worry when jockey Bernardo Pinheiro pinged the gates on The August to take up the early running. Jockey Ronnie Stewart was happy to have Silent Is Gold – who jumped the prohibitive $6 favourite – on the leader’s flank.
Mr Malek (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) sat in fourth on the rails while the $75 outsider, Kharisma (Marc Lerner) was in third, trailing his stablemate, Silent Is Gold, throughout.
The August kicked strongly when challenged by Silent Is Gold in the straight. At the 300m, the leader rolled off and Mr Malek was presented with a spacious gap on the rails. He eventually levelled up with the gutsy The August at the 100m, before finding enough late to beat off a rejuvenated Kharisma in the shadows of the post.
Mr Malek – who started the second favourite at $29 – officially prevailed by a head from Kharisma while Silent Is Gold ran another length away in third.
The winning time was 1 min 8.74secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.
(From left): Owner representative and stable supervisor Shaugi bin Soaidi, jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim and trainer Steven Burridge happy with their win in the Kranji Sprint.
Burridge, whose last Group win at Kranji came with the same Mr Malek in the Stewards’ Cup, was quick to praise Mr Malek’s owner – Phua Chian Kin of the Oscar Racing Stable – before also lauding the horse and jockey for their efforts.
“I have to thank (owner) CK. He’s been very loyal to me,” said the Australian handler to racing presenter Pat Comerford after the race.
“He probably could have moved him (Mr Malek) on when he wasn’t winning, other than the Stewards’ Cup two years ago.
“Honestly, he’s really thrived. That’s the only reason I ran him because he thrived so much. I just thought, well I’m going to take a punt.
“It was a good ride by Harry (A’Isisuhairi). He (Mr Malek) doesn’t like racing on the inside usually but he had to stay there.
“When the other horse (The August) rolled off, it gave him enough room to be able to sort of let go a bit.
“He was never going to win bar on the line, so it was great.
“Harry was my apprentice (jockey), both him and Simon (Kok Wei Hoong), so it was good to be able to put Harry on.”
When asked by Comerford about The August setting the good tempo upfront, Burridge had an inkling that it may happen given he trained the I Am Invincible seven-year-old in 2021.
“Well, I did train the horse before – The August – so I knew or was hoping that he was the only one to take the other horse (Silent Is Gold) on. It worked out beautifully for us,” he said.
Harry was glad to win another Group race, especially on a horse he loves.
“We (Burridge and him) were both hungry for a Group winner,” said the Kelantan-born jockey, who gave his Burridge an impromptu hug during the interview.
“My target was to get at least one Group winner a year and I missed that out last year.
“This year, the only horse that can do it (for me) was Mr Malek. The way he ran in the Kranji Mile just showed that he came back to his (best) form again.
“Credit to Mr Burridge, my old boss! He’s done a fantastic job with the horse.
“And the vets did a great job too to get him back and (he’s now) another group winner.”
With that ninth win and eight placings in 30 starts, Mr Malek has now amassed over $860,000 in prizemoney for his connections.
