Coach Richard Lim mentioned that Blackbuck owed his first win to all the fitting substances coming into the combination at his sixth Kranji begin on April 6.
The speedy Successful Rupert three-year-old had been knocking on the door following two shut thirds at his final two begins.
When he drew barrier No. 1 within the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race (1,100m), Lim’s confidence grew a notch or two.
Save for his debut, when he was nonetheless inexperienced, Blackbuck has all the time managed to settle among the many first few.
It additionally helped his trigger that the opposite famous speedster within the 12-horse subject, Large Max (Bruno Queiroz) drew out in 11, though favorite Fortunate Aim (Manoel Nunes) is equally nippy, and was leaping from a greater alley in three.
Blackbuck ($18) duly landed in entrance for apprentice jockey Faiz Khair. However, in the long run, it was newcomer Fortunate Warrior (Ryan Curatolo) who got here matching motors with him.
The query whether or not Blackbuck would take in the stress higher this time was quickly answered when the duelling pair straightened up for the decide.
For a fleeting second, the race gave the impression to be all stitched up when Fortunate Aim, beneath a supremely assured Nunes, cruised up with the better momentum regardless of carrying 57kg.
However the swing in weights quickly instructed.
With solely 53kg on his again, courtesy of Faiz’s 4kg allowance, and laborious up towards the rails, Blackbuck was not a straightforward buyer to unseat.
Ultimately, neither of his two chasers received “fortunate”.
Fortunate Aim needed to accept second, ½-length away, with Fortunate Warrior third, one other 1½ lengths away. The profitable time for the Polytrack 1,100m was 1min 5.02sec.
“He has positively improved as we noticed at his final couple of begins,” mentioned Lim.
“He was initially fairly inexperienced. He lacked racing expertise, however he’s getting higher and higher with every race.
“As he has pure pace, we need to make full use of that. From barrier 1, there was just one method to journey him, go ahead.
“However, when Nunes’ horse got here in so quick, I’ve to confess I used to be a bit anxious. Fortunately, he nonetheless had a kick left in him.”
Now that that maiden tag is damaged, the subsequent process is to discover a appropriate race to maintain him on an upward spiral. Lim isn’t in a rush, although.
“I don’t have something in thoughts for him but. We’ll take a look at what’s out there on the programme,” he mentioned.
Whereas it has taken six runs for the jockey-turned-trainer to unlock the profitable formulation for Blackbuck, Faiz mentioned that simply the one earlier journey was an eye-opener to him.
“At my first journey on him, I panicked when the opposite horses got here in (after we led). I urged him too early and he flattened out shortly,” mentioned the Singaporean apprentice jockey.
“In the present day, he had a superb draw and he led simply, even when we had firm.
“The opposite horse (Fortunate Aim) by no means went previous us. He stored holding on, I stored pushing him, and determined to make use of much less of the whip.
“As an alternative of whipping him, I confirmed him the whip simply to maintain him going.”
Faiz was chalking up his third success for the 2024 season, with all three winners coming for Lim, regardless that he’s indentured to Desmond Koh.
The alternatives are fewer with the Singapore Derby-winning coach, who has solely 13 horses left in his stables as of late, and doesn’t win out of flip.
However Koh was nonetheless in a position to pay a go to to the winner’s circle on April 6 with the well-backed Sacred Buddy ($13) within the $30,000 Class 5 race (1,200m). It was his sixth win from solely 42 starters, a laudable strike charge for a small crew.
The Sacred Falls four-year-old, who was dropping in school after mixing it in far more flattering firm – together with Lim’s Saltoro, Silo and Strike Gold in a not too distant previous – proved too good when he led from barrier to field for Krisna Thangamani.
manyan@sph.com.sg
