Trainer Tan Hor Khoon was a man in a hurry on Friday night when he saddled the first two winners on the small eight-race programme.
The race-to-race double with two well-backed runners, Rory ($22) and Super Eight ($26) incidentally doubled Tan’s 2015 score to four winners, pulling him from 12th spot into the Top 10, on 10th spot.
Tan, who is now assisted by former jockey and trainer Loh Kin Kuen (KK Loh), was only too happy to bring up such a haul, given the fierce competition in the Kranji training ranks.
“Both horses were well, but I didn’t expect a double,” said the Singaporean handler.
“Rory is a Polytrack horse and he won in a weak Class 5 field. I just took over Super Eight (ex-Michael Freedman) and didn’t know him well but he’s been working well.
“He has not been racing for a while (since September) as he had some hoof problems. I wasn’t sure how he would go as it was his first race for me but I was expecting a good run.
“I have to say it’s a bit of a surprise as there were a few good horses in the field. But Mark (Ewe) is riding in great form and they were just too good.”
The former Singapore multiple-champion apprentice jockey, who was at his only booking for the night, has indeed been riding on the crest of a wave this term, having already taken his tally to five wins with Super Eight, only three wins short of his 2014 score.
Settling Super Eight in fourth spot in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m, Ewe bided his time until the top of the straight before pushing the button. Newcomer Court Achiever (Michael Rodd) held on gamely but buckled when Super Eight wore him down to get the upperhand by three parts of a length.
After being outpaced early, favourite Hee’s Ego (Manoel Nunes) ran on strongly to grab third spot, another neck away, a clear sign he is looking for more ground.
The winning time was 1min 11.1 for the 1200m on the Short Course.
“Things are going well for me this year. No secret to it, just hard work and the results are here,” said Ewe, who won Western Australia’s Most Promising Apprentice award in 2006
“I think this horse was only 80% fit, but he probably won because the field was not very strong. It was still a very good effort.”
Super Eight, a three-year-old by Hussonet, showed early promise at his first two runs for Freedman when he ran second and third before finishing out of the placings at his last run for the Australian trainer.
In the opening event, a $35,000 Class 5 race over 1000m, Rory (Oscar Chavez) relished the switch to Polytrack and drop back in distance to outsprint Super Captain (Rueven Ravindra). The winning time was 1min 0.24secs.The five-year-old by Rusty Spur is a veteran of 46 runs and has now recorded five wins and 11 placings for stakes earnings inching close to the $200,000 mark for the Miracle Racing Stable.
