Race caller Matthew Jones will have to dust off his old French books when Michael Clements’ latest Jubilant Racing Stable recruit steps out, which going by his first barrier trial on Thursday, should not be far away.
The Australian may not speak French every day, but his two years learning Moliere’s language at the Alliance Francaise de Singapour back when he just arrived at Kranji have come in handy in pronouncing local runners named that way such as Deauville, Bordeaux or Petite Victoire.
But L’Apprenti Sorcier might present a more tongue-twisting challenge than those and even Laurie Laxon’s Maori-themed Mangatoetoenui or Turangawaewae.
L’Apprenti Sorcier is not even a French-bred. He is a New Zealand-bred by Iffraaj who had quite a stellar career in Sydney when known as Church Boy for trainer David Vandyke, winning four in a row (1300m to 1500m) before being bought by the Jubilant Racing Stable.
No, Joshua Tan, the owner is not French and neither is he a fan of Nicolas Cage, who played a magician in Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which is what L’Apprenti Sorcier means in French.
It is actually a symphonic poem by French composer Paul Dukas, which falls in line with Tan’s known penchant for classical music (Pachelbel’s Canon, Ride Of Valkyries, Blue Danube, etc).
What Clements saw at Thursday’s barrier trials was certainly like music to his ears, especially after the early setback with a horse that was brought in with lofty goals.
“He had a few issues when he came. He had a difficult acclimatisation on top of that,” said the Zimbabwean-born handler.
“He raced in city company in Sydney and we even nominated him for the SIA Cup (now-defunct Singapore Airlines International Cup over 2000m) last year.
“We gave him more time and it’s only now that he’s come into his own. He trialled for the first time this morning and I was very pleased with that.
“They went quite fast and he finished off quite well.”
Given an easy time by jockey Vlad Duric, L’Apprenti Sorcier ran fourth, about six lengths off the Patrick Shaw trio of Rafaello, Cyborg and Time Odyssey.
However, Clements won’t get his new charge under starter’s orders until the middle of June.
“He will need one more trial. He’s a miler who can go up to 1800m and I will probably look for a Class 2 or Kranji Stakes C sometime in June,” he said of the five-year-old gelding who was allocated 76 points on landing.
Meanwhile, Clements will be hoping for a “fairy tale” second Stewards’ Cup with Kiwi Karma on Sunday. After Jazz Malone gave the former Zimbabwean champion trainer his first feature win at his new home when he landed the Singapore Derby Trial in 2000, he had to wait another four years to annex his second, Fairy Tale in the 1400m event back in 2004.
Clements was not exactly brimming with supreme confidence given Kiwi Karma’s defeats at her last three runs when ridden by previous partner Manoel Nunes. The chestnut sprinting mare by Fast ‘N’ Famous was also entered in the $300,000 Group 2 event more “on the rebound”, given the connections’ decision to pass up Royal Ascot, but Clements has some valid arguments in her favour.
“I’m very happy with her. She is very fit and on rating (101), she is well in on weights (55.5kg),” he said.
“As she’s going up to 1400m, I’ve put some stamina work in her, but at the same time, made sure she was kept reasonably fresh.
“I don’t want to wind her up and she’s already learned to settle better, though I’m not happy with the barrier (13).
“(New partner) Vlad has ridden her in work a fair bit now and was very happy with her as well.
“To me, she’s a filly who must be ridden quietly and not ridden out aggressively. I think we’ve got that out of her system now.”
