In-form jockey Stephen Baster surged clear into the second spot on 48 wins on the Singapore jockey’s premiership for the first time when he brought up a four-tmer on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The Australian rider had long been in third spot behind untouchable leader Joao Moreira (134 wins) but only a few rungs below second-placed Danny Beasley, thanks mainly to a consistent strike rate of 13%. When Beasley was handed a two-day ban two weeks ago, Baster did not pass up on the opportunity to bridge the gap.
Which he did in fine style courtesy of a trebke on August 5 followed by a double last Friday – a prolific haul that has enabled him to draw level with Beasley before he finally forged clear by four wins courtesy of Cavallo in the $65,000 Restricted Maiden (2&3YO) race (1100m), The Big Dee in the $55,000 Class 4 Division 1 race (1200m), Creator in the $65,000 Initiation race (1200m) and Terminator in the $75,000 Progress race (1200m) at Sunday's Polytrack meeting.
The Michael Freedman-trained Cavallo ($10) was at his second start after a noteworthy debut when he made stacks of ground from the back to run third in a 1000m race over 1000m on July 27.
Despite finishing in the money, Baster, who rode the Testa Rossa gelding on that occasion as well, was the first to admit he was not exempt from any reproach at that first partnership.
“I gave him a pretty ordinary ride on that day. He was very green and was slow out of the gates,” said Baster.
“But he had no luck as we couldn’t get out when I wanted, but he still ran on strongly.
“We were expecting a good run today, but again, he missed the kick. But I was able to get him in a good position this time, and the horse did the rest in the end.
“It’s good to be able to repay the owners. He’s a horse who should get better over more ground.
“But he doesn’t jump all that flash, and I think he should learn to jump a bit better first.”
After an average getaway, the Mummify Stable-owned Cavallo quickly recovered under Baster’s urgings to settle in third behind Fantastic Boy (Ivaldo Santana) and the one heralded as his main rival, debutant Angry Cat (Oscar Chavez) who came from a wide barrier to inject more speed into the race.
However, Baster was in no hurry to launch his challenge, which he only did at the top of the straight when a wide passage presented itself before them. Angry Cat offered a meek resistance as Cavallo swept past at the 300m to go and register an easy 4 ¾-length win from the Alvin Tan-trained gelding, who lost no admirers with his gutsy first-up effort.
Freedman was not on hand to lead in his 45th winner as he is still not back from his South African holidays, but assistant-trainer James Peters was there at the winner’s box.
“The race experience that he got from his first race really helped him,” said Peters.
“He didn’t jump very well and didn’t like the kickback in the face. But today he was a lot closer to the pace and it was an encouraging win.”
While Baster showed his polish in sit-and-wait tactics aboard three legs of his four-timer, he was just as efficient from the front aboard The Big Dee, Kranji’s biggest horse who weighed in at 628kg on Sunday, a surplus of 13 kilos from his last racing weight.
Baster summed up the race nicely after the Choisir five-year-old sprang from his barrier No 6 to take up the running on the rails. A trio of challengers led by American Vision (Ivaldo Santana), Brown Shadow (Saifudin Ismail) and Rio Fortune (Shafiq Rizuan) tried to peg back the hulking gelding, but to no avail.
The Big Dee ($46), who is owned and trained by Steven Burridge, fell in by one length from American Vision with Brown Shadow third a short head away. The winning time was 1min 12.02secs.
