Trainer Lee Freedman was not at Kranji on Friday night, but the stable was kept ticking over when Irish stayer Excellency landed a spectacular last-to-first win in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1600m.
On his way to New Zealand to attend the Karaka sale, the Australian mentor would be pleased no doubt with the results brought by his only two runners in his absence, the other one being Little Big Man’s third place in the last race.
Both horses are raced by his Thai owners, the Falcon Racing Stable.
A two-time winner (1600m, 2000m) at The Curragh in Ireland, Excellency (then known as Beacon Rock when trained by Aidan O’Brien) was incidentally opening his local account. Previously prepared by Ricardo Le Grange at Kranji, the Galileo five-year-old was racing for the first time for Freedman.
Bringing up the rear for Michael Rodd, Excellency ($50) still looked a forlorn hope as a gaggle of horses pounced on the fast-fading favourite Sahara Eagle (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) at the point of the turn.
But once the Australian jockey had his mount all balanced up, they started to pick their way through the field before flashing past their rivals for a most impressive win.
Tesoro Privado (Barend Vorster) stuck on well for second place on the inside another 1 ¼ lengths away with Chocolats (Matthew Kellady) third another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 35.45secs for the mile on the Long Course.
“The race was set up for him. They went pretty hard in front,” said Rodd.
“He also liked a bit of give in the track tonight. Lee told me he does have some problem to change leads, but he was good tonight.
“The pace really helped him out and he scored a soft win in the end. He was looking around.”
Rodd also touched on the state of the track after the heavy rainfall it copped during the day.
“I think from experience when we race on the E course, the outside grass is still immature as it’s still growing in some patches,” said the experienced rider.
“The worst is behind us, and we’ll be okay once we go back to the A course.”
