After enduring a long time on the mend, Dragon World has finally made a much-welcomed return to the winner's circle on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Formely prepared by ex-Kranji trainer John Meagher, the O'Reilly seven-year-old has been plagued by a litany of injuries ever since he landed at his new yard, that of trainer Don Baertschiger last year.
At his very first run for Baertschiger, Dragon World, who scored four wins between 1200m and 1400m for Meagher, fractured his sacroiliac joint – near the pelvis – and was spent time on the sidelines.
Just when he had fully recovered, he sustained two more injuries. He fractured his shoulder, made good, but was third time unlucky some time later when he fractured his knee.
But Baertschiger persevered with the hardy R & W Stable-owned gelding and was finally rewarded for his patience in nursing him back to fitness three times with a resounding win in the $95,000 Class 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.
Parked in mid-division by jockey John Powell, Dragon World bided his time while main chances Mr Big (Danny Beasley) and Excavator (John Verenzuela) were locked in a cut-throat speed battle upfront.
Primera Espada (Joao Moreira) was next in line and looked like the first one to profit from the two top fancies wearing each other down.
But it was Dragon World who emerged at the 200m with a withering burst to score by a length from Mr Big with Collect The Cash (Tan Wei Li) flashing home late for third. Excavator and Primera Espada knocked up badly to run seventh and eighth respectively.
The winning time was 1min 12.04secs.
“When he strained his back the first time, that stopped him for a while,” said Baertschiger.
“He was spelled but then he had the other two fractures. It's been tough on him but it's good to see him win today.
“I would have preferred he raced over 1400m but there were no other races available.
“He has been showing he was back to his best form at his last couple of races and today the fast Speed upfront set the race up nicely for him.”
Powell said Dragon World has come back an improved horse after the spell.
“Credit to Donny and Stretch (son Shane) for bringing him back to his best after the spell,” said the Australian jockey.
“I didn't care where he was during the race. He was just tracking up the speed really good where he was.
“It's all worked out really good in the end.”
Dragon World has now notched five wins from 19 starts for stakes earnings just a tick under $300,000.
