Eight years after Onceuponatime won his last race in Singapore, local racegoers will get to see his very first progeny race at Kranji this Friday.
Moonraker is from the first crop of the former David Hill-trained juvenile champion and while only a handful have already hit the ground running, mostly in barrier trials, in New Zealand where Onceuponatime stands, she will be the first of her kind to race at Kranji.
Onceuponatime was a precocious two-year-old colt by Van Nistelrooy who went on to land the Group 3 Magic Millions Juvenile Championship (1200m) in 2007 (pictured above) with Ronnie Stewart aboard at his fourth start for his second career win. He made it three-in-a-row with two more wins as a three-year-old before running second in three Group 3 races in a row, the Stewards’ Cup (1200m), Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) and Three Rings Trophy (1400m).
The bold chestnut then captured his last race in the Group 3 Singapore Guineas (in its old format before it became the third Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, but still over 1600m) with jockey Danny Beasley up on February 29, 2008.
Also prepared by Hill, Moonraker will make her racing debut in this Friday’s $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m, by coincidence 10 days shy of that rare once-in-every-four-years date, two leap years later.
“We’ve actually got two of his daughters with us and we bred both. Moon Charm’s mother Melaka was imported here to race, but she could not handle the other way of going and never raced, becoming a broodmare instead,” said Hill’s daughter and assistant-trainer Samantha.
“I sometimes get those two fillies’ names mixed up, but between the two, Moonraker was more forward than the other, and that’s why she will have her first run first. The other one is probably more of a stayer (Melaka is by Marju who is a noted sire of stayers).
“I know some Onceuponatime’s have already raced and trialled in New Zealand, but I’m not sure what they’ve done.
“Moonraker has trialled quite well and showed she was pretty quick. It’s hard to tell if she has inherited any of her father’s qualities, I guess we’ll find out this Friday.
“But we’ve also got a third Onceuponatime and that one is a gelding and looks exactly like his father!”
Hill said that the owner of both fillies, the Full Moon Stable was not a spinoff of Onceuponatime’s previous owner, the All Star Stable raced by Mr Lam Wee Ngiam.
“They are two different owners. The Full Moon Stable are new owners,” said Hill.
“The All Star Stable does not have a share in any of these two fillies, but they have retained a share in Onceuponatime.
“He is currently standing in Timaru, which is not as big as the Cambridge breeding area, but you do get nice quality horses there too. We’re all excited to see how his babies will do here.”
It’s still early days as a quick search revealed that up to now, only one Onceuponatime runner has raced, going by the name of Don’t Shuffle Me, a three-year-old chestnut gelding out of a Spectacular Love mare (Olini). He had only one start at Timaru in a 1200m race and ran second-last. A post-race report, however, said he was shinsore after the race.
Onceuponatime enjoyed a short but stellar career at Kranji, running 18 times for five wins and nine placings and stakes earnings in excess of $630,000. One of his best races arguably did not come in victory, at his farewell race on April 24, 2009 when he stormed home from last in the 2009 Group 1 Lion City Cup to run a super third to Singapore’s icon Rocket Man at long odds of $289.
He was then sent to New Zealand to stand at little-known Belmont Park Stud in Timaru, a port city which is about 150km south-west of Christchurch on the South Island. Onceuponatime shares the stallion roster there with D’Cash, a son of Danehill who has had limited success with his products, his best progeny at Kranji being Huat Chai, the winner of the now-defunct Group 3 Three Rings Trophy (1400m) for trainer Mohd Yusof in 2009.
