New exciting prospect Speedy Cat turned in the most captivating performance of Friday night's racing as he thrashed his rivals in the $65,000 Novice race over 1200m on Polytrack, barely raising a sweat.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Sent out at the prohibitive odds of $5.3 for a win, the Scaredee Cat three-year-old gave jockey John Powell an armchair ride from start to finish to go and score his second win from as many starts at Kranji.
After being one of the best away, Speedy Cat settled into the lead with Baby Face (Subramaniam Anandan) on his outside and Kompressor (Oscar Chavez) third three wide. Powell just allowed the Alvin Tan-trained youngster to bowl along until the home turn where it soon became clear the other horses were in for a serious totalling.
Once Powell slipped some rein, Speedy Cat just exploded away to quickly put a space on his rivals. Last-start winner Kompressor and Baby Face tried valiantly but were both outsprinted from a long way while the beaten brigade were all gassed in his wake.
Kompressor finished second more than seven lengths adrift while Baby Face ran third another gap of 5 ¼ lengths away. The last horse home (Foudre) was beaten by just under 20 lengths.
Though it looked like a simple sit-and-steer job for Powell, who also rode Speedy Cat at his impressive three-length debut win over Californian Star (himself a winner earlier in the piece) on January 8, the Australian jockey did not want to get too far ahead of himself, though it is clear the horse does give him goosebumps.
“He is clearly one of the best young horses I've ridden here, but I don't want to get too carried away at this stage,” said Powell.
“I don't know if this is the best he can do but it's early days. Hopefully he can show us more but that's the line we should take with him.
“To me he doesn't feel like a 1000m or 1200m horse. I think he can go up to 1400m and even the mile.
“He's so relaxed and so professional now. He has improved a lot from his first race in terms of his mannerisms.
“What I like about him is he has such a high cruising speed. But I was a bit worried coming down to the corner when he accelerated a bit too quickly.
“I just went 'uh-oh, not now' and he came back under me. When I let him go in the straight, he just ripped away.
“That's a horse I definitely will be sticking with. He is definitely a horse with immense potential.”
Tan has already mapped out a programme towards the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge which kicks off with the Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) on March 30.
“The 3YO series is definitely his target. I think he should be able to go up to the Singapore Guineas (1600m),” said Tan.
“I think he still has more scope for improvement. Tonight I just told Johnny to let him settle at his own pace and let him stretch out in the home straight.
“Don't push him too hard I told Johnny. We have to take care of him as he is clearly pretty special."
