Mr Marvel scored a fighting win in Sunday’s $65,000 Restricted Maiden race (1200m) for a much-awaited maiden success, which he owed to the combination of trainer Alvin Tan’s patience and jockey Oscar Chavez’s persuasive powers.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The three-year-old son of little-known sire Vital Equine had not garnered plenty of attention at his six Kranji starts thus far, finishing midfield or worse most of the time. But the application of blinkers two runs back did appear to unlock some potential, including a fifth at long odds in a similar 1200m Polytrack race a fortnight ago.
Stalking up the speed behind joint leaders Diamonddash (Zuriman Zulkifli) and Let’s Talk Now (Soo Khoon Beng), Mr Marvel ($18) shaped up as a leading contender as he raised a strong gallop in the home straight, but Let’s Talk Now on the inside was not giving up an inch of ground.
The pair staged a spirited stoush inside the last furlong with Mr Marvel eventually wearing down Let's Talk Now to outplug his rival by half-a-length. Favourite Ron (Danny Beasley) had every chance after looming up inside the last furlong, but ran one-paced to the line. The winning time was 1min 12.49secs.
“This horse has taken a while to come right,” said Tan. “Sometimes he goes to the front, other times he races from behind. He’s very hard to assess.
“I’ve told the owners (Good Brothers Stable) to be patient with him and I’m glad he’s finally won a race. He’s still got some way to go as his timing is still quite average.”
Chavez said he went into Sunday’s race with a “now-or-never” attitude aboard the Australian-bred he has now partnered four times from his seven starts.
“This was the right race for him. I thought that if he didn’t win this one, I don’t know when he would win,” said the Panamanian jockey matter-of-factly.
“When I saw Beasley’s horse (Ron) was not coming, I thought we had a chance to win. We only had KB”s horse (Let’s Talk Now) to beat, and though it was hard to get past them, my horse fought very hard all the way to the line.”
Chavez carried his winning form through to the next race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 1 race, in which he sprang a major upset with $189 chance Face Off for trainer Desmond Koh.
