Alwin Tan may have hit a new milestone last weekend, but the reigning Singapore champion trainer is not one to rest on his laurels.
The Singaporean handler hit win No 400 with Soon Yi on Sunday before going one better with Happy Saga two races later. He was, however, unable to improve on that score the next day on Labour Day.
While such landmark achievements mean a lot to the former Air Force regular, he is actually keener to put them astern as quickly as possible, especially as he is now locked in a neck-and-neck battle at the top of the trainer’s premiership with Mark Walker, the 2015 champion.
“I was very happy to reach 400 winners on Friday. I thank all my staff for their hard work without forgetting my owners and their support, especially for supporting me with a number of new horses every year,” said Tan.
“Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to reach this figure. Right now, I’ve got 14 new horses waiting to do their Pre-ORT (Official Race Trials) and NR (New Registration) tests, and six new horses who are still in Australia and New Zealand.
“In this game, you need new blood, but with allocated boxes limited to 60, the only way to do it is to keep rolling horses. We have to ask the owners to delete certain horses or send them up to Malaysia, which always causes a bit of heartache, but that’s the way it is.
“I also have to thank the Singapore Turf Club for its support, and last but not least, my wife who has not missed a single raceday in the last 10 years.
“But right now, it’s time to focus on getting more winners, more so when the competition is so close this year, especially our ding-dong battle with Mark.
“We’ve had a lot of seconds and that’s why luck is very important in racing. It’s still early to talk about a second title, but we will keep working hard to bring in as many winners as possible.”
To that effect, Tan was more hopeful than confident he could add to his haul of 31 winners (same as Walker who is, however, on top on a countback for seconds) at this Friday’s standalone meeting.
Even if his duo of Happy Money and Nova Warrior in the night’s highlight, the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1200m on Polytrack, have on paper seen better days, Tan was not writing off their chances.
Happy Money (x Econsul) and Nova Warrior (x Bachelor Duke) share 15 wins between them, but it’s been long time between drinks for both. Two years for Happy Money and close to one year for Nova Warrior.
“I give Happy Money and Nova Warrior equal chances on Friday,” he said.
“Happy Money was down after his trip to Korea (2015) and I’ve been trying to bring his confidence back up since.
“He was very sore after the travel and the whole Korean race and experience and it’s taken a lot of patience to fix him.
“Every time he ran, he would lose his confidence and just give up in the home straight. He’s shown a bit of improvement and hopefully, he runs a better race now he is down in Class 3.
“Nova Warrior has also been unpredictable at his recent races. He switches on and off, depending on his mood.
“That’s why I’ve been removing the visors and I’ve tried to keep him fresh. He is also down in grade and let’s see how he goes.”
Tan is also pinning hopes on his other five runners, especially last-start winner Smart Master (x Reaan) and recent stable transfer Maximus (x Lemon Drop Kid), a one-time winner (when ridden by Troy See) from three starts for trainer John O’Hara and who has not raced for close to nine months.
“Maximus trialled once for us and it was not really impressive,” said Tan.
“Maybe it’s because he hasn’t raced for so long and he had a tendon history. Troy didn’t go hard on him, anyway.
“With Troy suspended, I have put Oscar on. Oscar was very happy with his workout and hopefully, he has overcome his problems.
“I also have Blue Diamond in the same race (Class 4 race over 1100m) and I expect a good run from him with a light weight (53kgs) and barrier No 1.
“Smart Master was quite impressive with the blinkers at his last start (Class 5 race over 1200m) and he’s tackling a similar kind of race. He galloped well on Tuesday and has maintained his condition.”
Besides keeping the ride on Smart Master, in-form jockey John Sundradas, who rode a rare double on Sunday – Soon Yi and Whistling Win in the Singapore Silver Horseshoe, the second Leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series for two-year-olds - will also jump on Nova Warrior for the first time. Danny Beasley takes the ride on Happy Money.
