Holidaying New Zealand trainer Stephen Gray will get a pleasant surprise with the victory of Born To Fly in the $75,000 Tengku Rehaizat Stakes over 1200m on the Polytrack on Tuesday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The four time previous winner broke a long run of outs with his victory the Kranji Stakes C race on New Year’s Day.
Ridden by Gray’s apprentice Wong Wei Xiang, Born To Fly scored by a neck over Running Tall (John Powell) with Video Call (Greg Cheyne) a length-and-a-quarter away third.
Wong had Born To Fly perfectly positioned from his draw of barrier two in third spot behind the leaders Running Tall and World War (Saifudin Ismail).
When Running Tall kicked clear soon after straightening for the run home, Wong was able to get himself into clear running and settle down to chase down the leader.
Running Tall did have to do a bit of work outside of World War and the 59.5kg eventually told while Born To Fly with 54kg after Wong’s 4kg claim saw him finish the race off strongly.
Born To Fly had been winless since scoring in similar grade back in April last year winning over 1400m.
In 10 runs since that victory, Born To Fly had finished in the money on just two occasions.
Gray’s stable supervisor Matt Lewis said the claim of Wong was certainly decisive in seeing Born To Fly back in the winner’s enclosure.
Born To Fly was having his first outing since November 25 after finishing fifth over 1400m in Class 3 company.
“We just freshened him up after his last run,” said Lewis. “We didn’t do anything special with him but had him nice and fresh for this.
“The 4kg off his back was important for him today and it didn’t look a strong race on paper.
“No doubt the boss will be happy.”
Lewis also praised the ride of Wong who only began riding in 2012 and rode seven winners in his debut season.
“He’s improving all the time and gave the horse and good ride from the draw,” said Lewis.
“He’s got a good claim at this time and that was telling at the end as he was getting weight (5.5kg) from the winner.”
Born To Fly, a five-year-old Australian-bred by Mossman from the Danzero mare Conclude, has proven a good money spinner winning five of his 30 starts accumulating around $275,000 in prizemoney for the trainer who also owns the gelding.
