The Michael Freedman-trained Ronnie Brown bounced back to the winner's circle when he reeled off an imposing victory in the $75,000 Open Benchmark 74 race over 1100m on Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
A previous three-time winner who is always greeted by raucous cheers from his adoring brown jacket-clad owners, the Darci Brahma three-year-old resumed his campaign with a second placing when punted down to $8 favouritism on February 17. Ridden to the lead by Steven King shortly after cornering, Ronnie Brown was being hailed the winner but was run down by Great Light in the concluding stages.
Freedman called for a short freshen-up, which seems to have worked wonders on the New Zealand-bred gelding.
After spending a bit of pertrol to overcome his outermost alley, Ronnie Brown ($12) was able to settle into the lead before gradually upping the tempo to score easing down by two lengths from Eclair Flyer (Jose Verenzuela) with Secret Mission (Manoel Nunes) who tried to apply some pressure on Ronnie Brown midrace, weakening to run third another three parts of a length away.
The winning time was 1min 4.82secs.
“He was tardy at the gates for no particular reason at his last run. He still ran a good race but was caught at the 200m mark,” said Freedman.
“He was fitter today with that first run under his belt. I told Joao to use him a bit so he doesn’t get caught three to four wide.
“There was a lot of merit in today’s win. He’s a typical six-furlong horse and maybe seven furlong as he gets older.
“We’ll see how he pulls up, but I may look at the first Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge (Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint over 1200m on March 31) for him.
“I think he can measure up. The only time he’s ever run against quality three-year-olds, he struck really wet tracks which he hates.”
Moreira, who was at his first association with Ronnie Brown, said his winning mount was in a league of his own and just unbeatable on Sunday.
“He was very quick today, but I still had to dig him up to get him to clear the other horses on his inside,” said the three-time Singapore champion jockey who was at the third pin of a four-timer that included Ready To Strike, Lucky Rise and Work Ahead.
“He came back to me very nicely once we settled down in the backstraight. In the straight, he just did it so easily I didn’t have to pull the stick at all.
“He was too quick that he was never going to get beaten. They would have needed a turbo engine to catch him.”
Ronnie Brown has now extended his prizemoney to more than $180,000 for the Mummify Stable, the name used to represent his group of owners.
