Super Brilliant overcame a work disruption setback to still come away with a slashing maiden win in the $65,000 Initiation race over 1100m on Friday night.
Just like all his stablemates at the Theo Kieser stables, Super Brilliant had been hampered by the shutdown imposed on the yard following two confirmed cases of Streptococcus equi also known as Strangles two weeks ago. The Agri-Food Veterinary Authority (AVA) issued an isolation order on Kieser’s yard as well as Bruce Marsh’s, but which was subsequently extended to a Club-wise quarantine, hence allowing Kieser’s and Marsh’s horses to resume training and racing.
Missing out from the last four meetings, Kieser obviously had some concerns about the fitness level of his horses, six of them this Friday and another six on Sunday, but Super Brilliant for one allayed those doubts with a pulverising turn of foot inside the last 300m.
Settled in third spot by jockey Soo Khoon Beng, the Exceedingly Good three-year-old enjoyed a cosy run in transit while the same could not be said of favourite Changbai Mountain (Manoel Nunes) who dawdled out of the gates and had to be bustled up to sit outside leader Good Bet (Chung Wah Thong).
Turning for home, Changbai Mountain launched but it was clear there was not much gas left when Super Brilliant came pegging him back with ease before shooting past for a smart 2 ½-length win. Changbai Mountain ran second with Paltrow (Elione Chaves) third another neck away. The winning time was 1min 6.66secs for the 1100m on Polytrack.
“We had a slow start to the season and then the positives forced us to close down. That played on my mind whether my horses would be short of a gallop,” said Kieser.
“But like (Singapore Turf Club presenter) Gareth (Pepper) told me, sprinters can carry some condition and run fresh when they have not worked for a while, and I think Super Brilliant was a good example of that tonight.
“He did gallop on Tuesday and I was just hoping it would be enough. It’s all worked out in the end.
“It’s my first win for the year and also the first win for the Titanium Stable of Jeffrey Soh, the son of Mr Soh Seng Lye who races Super Winner.”
Soo described Super Brilliant as a nice little horse who should be able to go over further as well.
“He’s only a small-sized horse but I was happy with the way he ran tonight. He just tries hard all the time and he will keep improving,” said Soo.
“But because he was in quarantine for a while, I did not work him too hard last week. He looked fit, travelled very well throughout, and at the 300m, once he changed stride, I knew he couldn’t lose.
“On the way he finished off, he will get 1400m no problem.”
The Kieser-Soo-Soh's great night got even better when the threesome recombined in the last race of the small eight-race programme, the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1000m, to bring up a double with Honest Truth ($48).
The Hussonet nine-year-old was registering his eighth win from 48 runs in Singapore to bring his stakes earnings past the $330,000 mark for the Rocket Fly Stable, which is owned by Mr Soh.
