Trainer Tim Fitzsimmons will have numbers on his side in the $300,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) with Golden Monkey and Greatham Boy in the elite seven-horse field on Sunday.
As the only trainer with more than one runner in the last running of the iconic sprint race in Singapore, the Australian handler hoped either of them can turn giant-killer by toppling the mighty Lim’s Kosciuszko.
It will not be an easy task. It was a frustrating one for the 2022 Singapore champion trainer who could only watch on as his stable star, Golden Monkey, ran third and second to the two-time Singapore Horse of the Year in the Lion City Cup in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The affable trainer’s dream would be for the five-year-old son of Star Turn to progress naturally and go one better on Sunday, but he is under no illusions on how tough that task would be.
“He (Golden Monkey) deserves a win like this,” said the Australian conditioner of the 2023 Group 1 Singapore Derby (1800m) winner.
“But (trainer) Daniel’s (Meagher) horse (Lim’s Kosciuszko) will be very tough to beat.
“So, the plan is to ride to beat him (Lim’s Kosciuszko). That’s the easy part: the planning. Beating him would be a different story.
“The gate’s (barrier seven) not ideal but (visiting Australian jockey) Chad (Schofield) knows him really well, so we’ll leave it to him on the day.
“The small field is tricky. We don’t want to be caught wide but there looks to be enough speed in this race to have every chance.
“Chad will have a plan A, B and C. Let’s hope one of those works and Golden Monkey can get his second Group 1 win.”
Meanwhile, Fitzsimmons’ other runner, Greatham Boy, will retain the services of jockey Ryan Curatolo after the pair combined for the first time and won in a Class 3 race (1200m) on 30 June.
“Ryan was the logical choice for Greatham Boy,” he explained.
“I thought he rode him beautifully last start and his style suited the horse.
“It took a while for me to figure him (Greatham Boy) out; but he’s best when ridden quiet. I think we exposed him too early at his first few starts for me, so now we hold him up for as long as we can.”
While the new tactics have proven successful at his last run and his previous start in a Class 4 Division 2 race (1200m) on 18 May, Fitzsimmons also understands that the son of Stratosphere, who tasted Group 3 success as a two-year-old after he won the Singapore Golden Horseshoe (1200m) last year for ex-Kranji trainer Michael Clements, will be facing his biggest assignment thus far on Sunday.
“We’re definitely throwing him (Greatham Boy) in at the deep end against Lim’s Kosciuszko at weight-for-age,” he continued.
“But his last two runs were fantastic and he’s a genuine 1200m horse.
“He’s still growing, so he still has improvement left in him in my opinion.
“He would like some sting out of the ground though. The track dried out a lot last weekend and didn’t give horses that came from behind any chance.
“There’s not much rain forecast, so hopefully, the track gets a good water before Sunday. It needs that for fair racing.
“But rain, hail or shine, it will be interesting to see how he (Greatham Boy) goes.
“His recent trial was very good (won trial no 2 on 18 July in 1 min 2.21secs) and I think he can show his best on Sunday.
“Whether his best will be good enough is yet to be seen but he will run to his best.
“He’s drawn well too (in barrier three) and gets a half-kilo weight allowance as a three-year-old; every bit helps.
“I don’t think he (Greatham Boy) will be overawed by the opposition or the occasion and who knows, he might be the one to beat Lim’s Kosciuszko.
“Stranger things have happened in racing!”
By Larry Foley
