Sun Dream aptly captured a race named after his owner’s horse racing club, the $80,000 Macau Jockey Club Trophy on Saturday.
Trained by Desmond Koh, ridden by two-time Singapore champion apprentice jockey Wong Chin Chuen and owned by Macau businessman Cheng Ting Kong, the Snitzel four-year-old came off a perfect run in transit to burst through the fence and lay claim to the Class 3 Division 1 race over 1200m in style.
Backed down to $18 favouritism in the smallish nine-horse field despite his last-start unplaced run, Sun Dream had the run of the race, enjoying a good tow behind race-leader Lim’s Showcase (Glen Boss).
The former Victorian-based one-time winner (when known as China Dream for Caulfield trainer Mick Price) could not have hoped for a better script when Lim’s Showcase rolled off at the top of the straight.
Given his full head by Wong, Sun Dream powered through the gap with a generous acceleration, easily putting the race away with a two-length win from Buenos Aires (Daniel Moor).
Storm Trooper (Mohd Firdaus) came gunning down his rivals at the rate of knots on the outside, but had left it too late, settling for the last place on the podium. He denied favourite Siam Sapphire (Michael Rodd) that spot by a head.
Michael Clements’ Thai-owned galloper had every chance in the run, but never pinged when called upon in the home straight. The winning time was 1min 13.13secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
“He came back lame at his last run, and I was happy with the way he has bounced back since,” said Koh.
“He’s put in two very good barrier trials and he had a nice draw (two) today. CC had him in the perfect trailing position throughout and once the gap came up, the horse quickened very well.
“It’s nice to get a win during Chinese New Year, and it’s even better when it’s for a strong supporter of mine, Mr Cheng, who I’m sure will be happy the win came in the Macau Jockey Club Trophy.
“I’m also happy for CC who hasn’t ridden a winner for a while (since Himalaya Dragon for his master Tan Kah Soon on January 23) and it’s also his first winner for me this year.”
The Penang hoop said he knew he was onto a good thing when he secured the box-seat without raising a sweat from barrier No 2.
“The horse landed in a good spot when the gates opened,” said Wong.
“There was a nice tempo to the race, and my horse was able to sit behind the leader. He travelled nicely throughout.
“When a gap opened up at the top of the straight, he went through it and gave a very good kick.”
Sun Dream was registering his second win from five starts at Kranji, taking his stakes earnings past the $85,000 mark for his owner.
