Years have changed but Kranji racegoers must have felt like déjà vu at the very first race of the new season on Tuesday when the Daniel Meagher-Benny Woodworth combo struck again.
It was the same duo who took out the 2018 season opener with Elise, and one year on, the honour of firing the first salvo for 2019 was again theirs with the well-backed ($20) Fighting Warrior in the $30,000 Prosperity 2019 Stakes, a Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m.
The inkling of a repeat dose actually surfaced from the get-go when Woodworth had the Meagher-trained son of Hold That Tiger settled in the gun spot outside leader Man Of Words (Saifudin Ismail).
Once the Malaysian rider called upon the previous one-time winner at the 300m, the issue soon became a foregone conclusion. Bustled up for his final dash, Fighting Warrior worked home solidly to score by 1 ¾ lengths from Man Of Words with $276 longshot Excalibur (Shafrizal Saleh) closing in late for third place another three parts of a length away.
The winning time was 1min 13.21secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Both Meagher and Woodworth said they did have the back-to-back season openers at the back of their minds, but they still needed the right horse to make it happen.
“Benny and I are good mates, and of course, we wanted to do it again this year,” said Meagher.
“It’s great for the owner (Ong Bee Lan) as this horse has had a lot of issues and is hard to maintain.
“I’ve trained him a bit different. I’ve actually prepped him up for four months for this race.
“He’s had no break, I’ve kept him working and he was very fit for today’s first race of the year. Benny gave the horse a confident ride, and it’s paid off.”
Woodworth was also glad to see the well-laid plan concocted with the Australian trainer come off, no doubt with a touch of New Year luck as well.
“Looking at the race, I thought the horse had a chance,” said Woodworth.
“He’s the only horse who was not too long ago in Class 3. Dan and I wanted to do another Elise, but we needed to have the right horse – and I guess we picked the right one for the job today.”
Fighting Warrior recorded his only previous win when prepared by trainer Mok Zhan Lun at his first five starts in 2016. He actually opened his account at his third start in a Class 4 race over 1400m in May, 2016, even earning himself a shot at Group 1 glory in the Patron’s Bowl (1600m), losing no marks with a closing seventh to Well Done.
But 29 runs have since ensued without another visit to the winner’s circle – though he was placed a few times – until that much-needed New Year change of fortunes on Tuesday.
