Punters were rewarded for their unwavering faith in Fantastic Man after the short-tailed chestnut finally saluted at his fourth Kranji run on Sunday.
Confidence could indeed have worn off after the Choisir three-year-old kept coming under, but, somehow, his starting odds always fell on the skinny side. Given the short margins he was getting beaten by, except at his debut run, it was not all that hard to understand why people kept believing “he should get it right this time” whenever his name popped up on the racecard.
On a lighter note, trivia lovers would probably link his popularity to his unusually short shaggy tail, which does have a “tale” of its own, but to trainer Alwin Tan, he always knew he was above average.
Fantastic Man put the writing on the wall early when he scored two solid barrier trial wins, which unsurprisingly paved the way to his favouritism tag on debut on May 8, but probably still green at his very first race experience, he could only manage fourth for his barrier trial partner Michael Rodd.
The flashes of ability during the run did not escape astute observers, though, which explained why his fans’ faith was barely dented at his next start when he sported blinkers and had Manoel Nunes jumping aboard. Still backed with confidence ($13), Fantastic Man was following the script to a tee when he hit the lead, but Imperial Boy was the one who came gatecrashing the party with a flying finish.
Third time lucky was the byword at his next run when a third jockey in Corey Brown was given the call-up, but again, the $8 favourite was rolled, this time by his own stablemate, the much less-fancied Dragon Infinity, by the narrowest of margins.
Tan must have prayed a little harder at Fantastic Man’s fourth try in Sunday’s $75,000 South Australian Jockey Club Trophy, a Restricted Maiden race over 1200m, and to his great relief, his prayers were finally answered in the best possible way.
Held centrefield by Brown (Tan decided not to change jockeys anymore), Fantastic Man travelled with a nice smother in fourth spot from the word go, before being peeled out for his run at the top of the straight. The moment he saw daylight, there was never any doubt who would hit the line first.
Fantastic Man skipped away to a 2 ¾-length win from Preferred (Barend Vorster) with Great Ninth (John Sundradas) third another head away. The winning time was 1min 11.95secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
“Finally! I thought my luck was just ‘not ready’ with this horse at his first three runs,” said a relieved Tan.
“Every time he’s favourite and I thought he would win, but he just had no luck. I didn’t lose hope he would win and I told the owner at the parade ring he would hopefully win today as he was again the favourite.
“He did everything correct today. The distance suited him, there was no rush and he was comfortable and in a handy spot throughout the race.
“His action was nice and Corey Brown, who knows him better after riding him for the first time at his last run, rode him very well. I always knew he was a good horse and he finally showed it today.”
On the chewed off tail, Tan said Fantastic Man was not born that way, but said it lost its original length after one of his barn neighbours became a little too hungry.
“He had a normal tail when he first came to us, but it was bitten off by another stablemate,” said Tan.
“It’s stayed that way since. It doesn’t bother me as it certainly has not made him a lesser horse!”
If there was someone who would be hanging on tightly to what’s left of that tail when the galloper raced by Mr Andre Lim (of Super Easy and Super One fame) of the Number One Stable is marked down to race again, it has to be Brown.
“He travelled a lot better today, he was a lot stronger in his strides. He’s lost his greenness,” said the Australian rider.
“When he rolled around for his run at the home turn, I knew he would win easily.
“There is still scope for improvement in him as he’s only three-quarter there. Once he matures, the owners will have a lot of fun with him.”
