Leading trainer Patrick Shaw continued his affinity with the Singapore Gold Cup after Cooptado landed his third success in the feature event on Sunday evening.
Shaw took out his first Gold Cup in 2006, when Mr Line defeated stablemate War Horn.
Shaw notably landed the quinella on that occasion with Emperor's Banquet finishing second.
Although unable to repeat the dose this time around finishing fifth and sixth respectively, it would be Shaw's new blood that would rise to the occasion (1st - Cooptado, 3rd - Perfect P).Cooptado formerly based in Argentina joined Shaw's team after a brief stint with Doug Watson in Dubai.
Lining up in the 2015 SIA Cup at his first outing, Cooptado was safely held, however he then displayed good improvement when finishing fourth in the Group 1 Singapore Derby.While unable to break through in his six starts leading into the Gold Cup, Cooptado put the writing on the wall when working home strongly to finish fourth in the El Dorado Classic.
Ridden by Rizuan Shafiq, Cooptado settled towards the rear and clearly appreciated the strong tempo set by the Desmond Koh trained Order Of The Sun.
Pinching ground along the inside, Cooptado was under hard riding approaching the turn and while taking a while to wind up, he continued to make ground.Continuing his run through the field passing the 400m, Cooptado really started to knuckle down inside the 200m and loomed up to challenge Fastnet Dragon.
Staying on strongly, Cooptado hit the front passing the 100m and held off the latter to score by a head.His second Group 1 success having previously won the Gran Premio Nacional [2514m] in Argentina, Cooptado also handed apprentice rider Rizuan Shafiq his first Group 1 victory.
Cooptado recorded a Timeform rating of 113 for his success, seeing him rated one of the highest Gold Cup winners in recent times.Better Life remains the highest rated Gold Cup victor, when she carried 55.5kg to victory in 2012.
Star stayer Quechua proved gallant with the big weight and returned a Timeform rating just shy of his career peak.Sunday's Gold Cup was notably the first time Quechua had failed to fill the placings in his 16 starts in Singapore.
The Laurie Laxon trained Stepitup failed to ever come into contention, however given he conceded 8kg to a majority of his rivals, he was not disgraced.His defeat highlighted the difficulty faced by gallopers attempting to fulfil the Triple Crown, and presents the notion that it might never be achieved.
War Affair was the highest rated galloper to ever attempt the feat last year and given he was unable to do so, it's hard to envisage a galloper proving successful.While not completely ruling it out, it would take a very special galloper and three high class performances to create history.
A total of 20 races were held in Singapore over the weekend with a number of handy performances.Two worth highlighting are the Shane Baertschiger trained Solaris Spectrum and the Stephen Gray trained Bahana.
Solaris SpectrumRidden by Chuen Chin Wong, Solaris Spectrum was able pinch runs along the inside, before shifting out to the centre passing the 200m.
Recording 22.31 for his last 200m, Solaris Spectrum flew home to score in the shadows of the post.Improving six pounds on his previous best, the son of Time Thief is clearly back in great order and is a must for your Blackbook.
BahanaA well timed ride from Corey Brown saw Bahana land the final event on Sunday with the in-form hoop always appearing confident throughout.
Settled just off-midfield, Bahana travelled strongly under Brown and really worked home well when pulled to the outside on straightening.Hitting the front inside the 100m, Brown was able to sit up on the son of Elusive City over the concluding stages posting a 0.8L success.
Improving four pounds on his previous best, he much like Solaris Spectrum appears to be heading in the right direction and should pay to keep safe in the future.