He used to be a fleet-footed sure thing who took no prisoners in his heyday, but Pioneer Seven is developing a habit of taking punters to the cleaners these days.
Four runs back, he led from barrier to box in a Class 3 race over 1000m to score at long odds of $228. And now he has done it again on Friday night.
In between those two mammoth payouts, the Flying Pegasus seven-year-old raced thrice, over slightly more ground, but got beaten a long way, by an aggregate margin of 30 lengths.
With the memory of that boilover win having faded fast no doubt, he was again friendless in the market, albeit at a quote not as long as the last time - $183 - in Friday’s Open Benchmark 97 race over 1000m.
Trainer Mok Zhan Lun was hoping a return to those scampers might unlock the winning flair again, but without really holding his breath.
He could be forgiven if he had given up halfway. Pioneer Seven was racing exactly like a three-figure-odds no-hoper when caught three to four deep punching the breeze for the entire journey to swing home the widest for apprentice jockey Wong Chin Chuen.
That is when most, including Mok, would expect him to come a cropper after such a torrid run.
More so when speed merchant Sebas (Danny Beasley) was not done for the night at the head of affairs this time, still spoiling for a fight at the 300m, but surprisingly, so was a very determined Pioneer Seven.
Sensing his horse was still full of running, Wong pulled out all the stops, and slowly but surely, Pioneer Seven gained the ascendancy to go and record his seventh win by one-quarter length from another smokie, the fast-finishing Pole Paradise (Derreck David).
Olympic Anthem (Michael Rodd) was produced late to run third another three parts of a length away. Favourite Nova Swiss (Manoel Nunes) was first-up from a two-month spell, but was again disappointing to finish seventh, more than two lengths off Pioneer Seven. The winning time was 58.25 seconds for the 1000m on Polytrack.
“I actually expected him to run well over 1000m, but you never know with this horse. He likes to shake his head in the gates,” said Mok of the horse known for his barrier antics.
“But CC rode him well. I told him not to hold him back and he did exactly that.”
The 2016 champion apprentice jockey thanked Mok for his support. Though the former forex trader has had a “quiet season” by his own admission, he has still knocked in 11 wins, which is not a bad score with the fierce competition raging these days – and Wong had contributed around a third of them (four wins including twice on Red Ant and once on Enthuse).
“Mok knows this horse very well. He told me he would play up in the gates,” said the Penang-born rider.
“He told me I should just follow his strides, go along with him, don’t pull him back as he resents that.
“I was happy where he was even if he was caught three wide. In the last 50m, he was very one-paced and had nothing left in the tank, but I think the others were also tired.”
With that seventh success from 39 starts, Pioneer Seven sees his income bulge further to close in on the $450,000 mark for his owner Chionh Teck Swee, a long-time supporter of Singapore racing since the John Meagher days.
