Whichever way the Stewards’ decision went regarding a rare objection of first against first in Race 6, trainer Sam Chua could rest assured he had finally clinched his first 2015 win on Sunday.
The Singaporean trains Dynasty Knight ($21) who dead-heated with the Desmond Koh-trained Powerpac, ridden by apprentice jockey Syafiq Hazman in the Claiming Riders Class 5 race over 1200m.
But it was clear from the heads-on angle that Dynasty Knight was caught as the meat in the sandwich when the fast-finishing Powerpac laid in, narrowing the gap Dynasty Knight was vying for between him and Spicy Cat (Troy See) about 100m out. On the inside, Jawara (Ruzaili Yatim) joined the trio for a thrilling four-way go where the judge could not split Dynasty Knight and Powerpac for first place with Spicy Cat third another nose away and Jawara fourth another short head away.
The winning time was 1min 11.72secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.
Chua came out a relieved man from the Stewards’ room, though he probably would have still said thank you very much if he had shared the spoils with Koh given the Singapore system records a dead-heat as a whole integer, not a half-win like in certain jurisdictions such as Australia.
“I knew I had my first win already, but because he got squeezed, we had to object,” said Chua.
“It’s been a long wait. We’ve had many seconds, but we just needed some luck.
“Dynasty Knight was my best chance for the day. Hopefully this first win will now bring a change of luck to the stable.”
Chua, whose last win came with Piasau Garden on December 12, had six seconds and two thirds from 65 starters before finally getting the monkey off his back with Dynasty Knight, a seven-year-old by Antonius Pius who was recording his sixth win from 58 starts for prizemoney worth around $225,000 for the United Stable.
