Consistent sprinter Captain Obvious will be Singapore’s next representative on the international stage when he contests the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan on September 30.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Runner-up to Super Easy in the Group 3 $200,000 Jumbo Jet Trophy over 1400m last Sunday, Captain Obvious will join Hong Kong sprinters Little Bridge and Lucky Nine in the (approx) S$3 million event over 1200m at the Nakayama racecourse, which is also the eighth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge.
Singapore’s champion sprinter Rocket Man contested the Sprinters Stakes last year, finishing fourth behind Curren Chan.
Captain Obvious is no stranger to international travel, having campaigned successfully in Dubai earlier this year, winning once from three starts.
Trainer Stephen Burridge only confirmed the trip on Monday following an in depth discussion with connections.
The seven-year-old son of Verglas is the equal second highest rated galloper, with Super Easy, in Singapore following his performance in running a half-length second to that galloper last Sunday.
Burridge said Captain Obvious would leave for Japan on September 18 or 19 and spend the first seven days of the trip in quarantine.
“Once we get up there we can do some work in quarantine,” said Burridge. “We’ll keep him fit and ticking over so hopefully he won’t have to do too much when he gets up there.
“We thought that with him being a good traveller it might not be a bad option for him.
“At this time of the year there aren’t too many options for him to run in here.
“The only suitable option for him is the (Group 3) Garden City Trophy (1200m, on September 23) but being a Group 1 winner he will have to carry weight-for-age while most of the opposition I would think would be down near the minimum.
“And while he’s won at 1400m, he can’t run a mile which rules him out of the Kranji Mile and those sorts of races.
“He’s a seven-year-old now and not getting any younger. He might not get too many more opportunities to run against the best sprinters, so while he’s in good form we might as well make the most of it.
“He deserves the chance to run in a race like this. I’m sure he will be competitive and the race is worth something like S$1.475 million to the winner.
“He appears to be racing in good form and I’m sure if they were to take Super Easy up there for the race then he would be competitive and my bloke did really stretch him the other day.”
Burridge said Captain Obvious pulled-up in good order following his second placing to Super Easy and added he didn’t think the reverse way of going in Japan would hinder his chances.
“He gallops every fast morning that way and every other morning he goes onto the Hong Kong track,” said Burridge.
“He very rarely sees the main track for his work and he handles the reverse way of going without any problems, so hopefully under race conditions that won’t be any cause for concern either.”
After beginning his career across the Causeway in Malaysia, Captain Obvious joined the Burridge stable last year and second-up won the Jumbo Jet Trophy before running eighth in the Group 1 Kranji Mile.
He strung together two wins on the trot in late 2011 before heading over to Dubai and upon his return ran a first-up fourth in the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint in May.
Captain Obvious has won 15 of his 30 career starts and approximately $1.4 million in prizemoney for his wins in Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.
