Unorthodox dentistry was pulled out as the main factor behind the winning return of The Cosmos on Friday night.
The Darci Brahma five-year-old last scored on March 5 but had not quite shown the same “bite” at his next three starts.
The root cause of the tapering form soon emerged in the most bizarre manner. A rotten tooth just popped out of his mouth!
A five-time New Zealand champion trainer and winner of the equivalent title in Singapore in 2015, Walker is a seasoned hands-on horseman who knows a horse back to front, but was for once stumped. He just did not know the drill this time.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. He had an infected tooth and it just came out in front of the muzzle,” said Walker.
“All the vets crowded around when he was put in a crush. He was not knocked out cold, but Dr Dan Shaw performed quite an unusual procedure to take it out.
“It was a completely rotten tooth, and Dr Dan did a hell of a job. The horse has really improved since.”
Ridden by Walker’s apprentice jockey Zawari Razali, The Cosmos ($18) came from a midfield spot to join the battle for the top prize inside the last furlong. Favourite Stock Broker (Glen Boss) tried to pinch the race from the front but buckled under pressure when Premier Fighter (Salim Yusoff) collared him, but the latter also had no answer to The Cosmos’s superior finish on the outside.
At the wire, one length separated The Cosmos from Premier Fighter with third place going to Stock Broker another three parts of a length away. The winning time was 58.91 seconds for the 1000m speed scamper.
“The Darci Brahmas’ seem to win a lot of races here, and I think this one can improve further,” added Walker.
“It’s onwards and upwards for him.”
Walker did not fail to pay kudos to Zawari for the way he has improved since he joined his yard. The Kelantan-born rider is now locking horns with last year’s Singapore champion apprentice jockey Wong Chin Chuen.
With that riding double (he scored earlier on Walker’s Major Tom), Zawari is now tied with Wong (who scored aboard Simpang for his boss David Hill in the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m) on 17 winners but still sits in second spot on an inferior countback for seconds.
“Zawari is riding in great form. He listens to what I say and he works hard,” said Walker.
“Obviously CC has a weight advantage on him, but it will be a great battle to watch.
“It was a great night for all concerned. We had only four runners and we got two winners.”
The Cosmos has now taken his record to three wins and 10 placings from 23 starts for prizemoney edging closer to the $200,000 mark for his owner Ian Farrelly.
