Versatile galloper Smart Idea marked his return to the turf in the best possible fashion to claim a dominant victory in the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1600m on Sunday.
Ridden for the first time by jockey David Flores, the New Zealand-bred has had some indifferent results over the Polytrack since May but stamped his class in this contest on the grass as he comfortably beat Californian Jet (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) by a margin of four lengths and change to spare while Yes Baba (Nooresh Juglall) was another head away in third.
It completed a winning double for trainer Bruce Marsh, currently overseas on holiday, who saddled just two runners for the afternoon race meeting but has come away with the top prize in each assignment.
“I spoke to Bruce after Race 3 and he was very happy with the win by Flying Ahead,” said stable representative Gabriel Hessian, who together with Lisa O’Shea have overseen a haul of six winners this month while Marsh has been away. “We’re just sticking to the instructions left by Bruce and it’s been going great.”
He attributed the turnaround in form by Smart Idea, with a solitary placing from his last six starts on the all-weather surface, to his return to a familiar surface where he has scored once and placed six times from 11 previous starts.
“He’s been racing over the Polytrack and tends to get back on it. He needs to be ridden quiet and just needed a bit of luck. Today he was back on the turf and the long course and it all just suited him very nicely.”
Relocating to Singapore has also been very agreeable for US hoop Flores, 46, who arrived here from his Californian base in Los Angeles at the start of the year to begin the latest chapter in his 30-year riding career.
While the initial months were inevitably a period of adjustment for the Mexican-born rider, he eventually found his bearings and has struck 29 winners in his debut season at Kranji.
“The first six month here were really to see where I stood,” said the veteran jockey, who has been steadily improving and has scored 15 times since the beginning of June. “I’m also getting better quality horses now and the main thing for me is to do better in the big races and be successful in those.”
The multiple-Group 1 winning rider has picked up two “black-type” titles during his time here, both aboard the Alwin Tan-trained El Padrino who he will partner again at the Asia Challenge Cup on August 31 in South Korea, the country’s first international invitation race.
While the 300 million won (S$360,000) contest over 1400m on the sand track at the Seoul Racecourse is uppermost in his mind, Flores is already making plans for the future.
He currently goes to scales at 53.5kg and before Sunday, had 276 rides so far this season. Among the top eight in the premiership standings, only heavyweight jockey John Powell (200 rides) received fewer call-ups than Flores.
“My weight has been a problem as I’m not getting as many rides,” he said. “I’m going to try and bring my weight down by 1kg for next season. Hopefully I’ll do it by the end of the year.”
Tagged with 56kg on his back, Smart Idea had no issues coping with his load as he slammed down on the accelerator at the top of the straight and was uncatchable once he blew past the front-running pair of Lectern (Ivaldo Santana) and Kevin Eleven (Lisa Allpress) and turned what was shaping up to be a close affair into a one-sided rout. The winning time for the mile journey on the Long Course was 1min 34.50secs.
“It was very comfortable in the end,” said Flores. “He (Smart Idea) jumped very nicely and gave me a good finish in the last 600m.”
A six-year-old by Keeninsky out of La Romanina, Smart Idea has brought his handy record to four wins and 13 placings from 33 starts and has collected just shy of $250,000 in stakes earnings for the JLQ Racing Stable.
