Former Melbourne-based sprinter Eclair Flyer lived up to his name by getting off to a flying start at his new career at Kranji on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
A three-time winner between 955m and 1000m in Australia, including his latest at his third-last start in a 1000m race at Moonee Valley, the Flying Spur four-year-old looked a good thing when he had only three runners in his sight as he turned for home in the $75,000 Why Be 2007 Stakes, a Kranji Stakes C race over 1000m.
While it took a bit of revving up from leading jockey Joao Moreira for him to hit top gear, he eventually cruised away to a 1 ¼-length win over Saratoga (Stephen Baster) with Honest Truth (Soo Khoon Beng) fighting on for third another head away.
Moreira was sealing yet another treble with that latest victory aboard trainer Desmond Koh's new protégé, who is raced by the same connections as Koh's star sprinter Eclair Fastpass, last year's KrisFlyer International Sprint runner-up.
Straight after the win, Koh got onto the phone to deliver the good news to the Macau-based owner, Mr Li Chi Keung,
“He was very happy the horse had won at debut. Mr Li is very involved with his horses and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his support,” said Koh.
“We can't really compare this one with Eclair Fastpass as they are two different types of horse. This one is a pure sprinter type while Eclair Fastpass has a late burst and needs a race to get wound up.
“Eclair Flyer has shown ability right from the day he came to us, but he does have some peculiar habits he needs to overcome.
“As he's a sprinter, we can't afford to make him lose his sharpness. We'll have to take it easy with him.
“He ran a pretty good time today (58.92secs). Maybe we will consider the Kranji Sprint for him.”
Run on April 8, the Group 3 race over 1200m constitutes the second Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series which kicked off with the running of the Group 3 Merlion Trophy on Sunday afternoon.
Moreira for one was suitably impressed with the winning debut of Koh's new charge, who was punted down to start as the even-money favourite in the nine-horse field.
“Though he showed good form and won a couple of good races in Australia, he was running against some very strong and experienced horses today,” said the Brazilian jockey.
“But he didn't surprise me with the way he won first-up. I've done some work on him and I knew he had plenty of ability.
“I would say he's still not at his top and can only improve from that first run. The owner will have a lot of fun with him.”
