Gannet showed that his last-start fast-finishing third was not a one-off when he reproduced the same form to open his account at his 17th start on Sunday.
Previously trained by Mark Walker, the son of Duke Of Marmalade has not done anything earth-shattering other than the odd placing here and there.
Transferred to trainer Desmond Koh last September and bought by the Raja Muda Stable, who races in the same Tan Huat colours as 2012 Singapore Derby winner Chase Me, Gannet ran an encouraging race second-up for Azhar Ismail when a flying third to Typhon in a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1200m on February 4.
The odds were substantially shaved off ($61) at his third attempt for Koh and new connections in Sunday’s $45,000 Class 4 Non Premier race over 1400m, and Gannet duly delivered.
It did, however, have to take all of Azhar’s – yesterday’s Group 3 Fortune Bowl winner aboard Clarton Super – experience to get the six-year-old home in a blanket finish.
Unable to get into the clear halfway up the straight, Gannet was finally freed when Spur Me On (Barend Vorster) fell away at the 200m. Upfront, favourite Lim’s Bullet (Nooresh Juglall), Military Might (Mohd Zaki) and Golden Thunder (Troy See) were caught in a bumpy three-way-battle, but Gannet settled the issue with a flying finish on the outside.
The English-bred scored by a short head from Lim’s Bullet, who nosed out Golden Thunder for second with Military Might in fourth place only a short head away. The winning time was 1min 22.99secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
“That’s his third run for me. He came to us with some problems and we had to take him back a little and go back to the drawing board,” said Koh.
“I put him over sprints first and today I put him over a longer sprint and it’s paid off. Azhar rode him the right way.”
The veteran Malaysian jockey rued the long time it took for his mount to find a split.
“At the 300m, I could not get clear room. He would have won easier if he did,” he said.
“He’s a horse who showed a lot of improvement at his last start and he didn’t disappoint us today.”
