Trainer Shane Baertschiger was glad to get the monkey off his back with the victory of Bigcat Rhapsody in the $35,000 Kranji Stakes D over 1900m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The victory of Bigcat Rhapsody was the first for new owners to his stable – GPI Racing Stable – whose principle is Greg Ingham.
Baertschiger has four horses in training for Ingham who is the son of Jack Ingham of Woodlands Stud fame that raced such champion horses in Australia as Octagonal, Lonhro, Strategic and Commands to name just a few.
Ridden by leading apprentice A’Isisuhairi (Harry) Kasim, Bigcat Rhapsody scored a three-quarter length victory over Garatta Kid (Manoel Nunes) with I Like (Danny Beasley) a further length-and-three-quarters back in third place.
Of the four horses Baertschiger has in training for Ingham only three have raced with Bigcat Rhapsody having had the most starts with Sunday’s victory his fifth outing in Singapore.
Other runners for Ingham have been Blue Lion (three starts) and Grey Stoke (four starts) with those gallopers yet to fill a placing.
“It’s good to get the monkey off the back,” said Baertschiger. “Greg sent up a few horses from the Hawkes team in Australia.
“They hadn’t fired before today so it’s good to get that winner as it will relieve a bit of pressure.”
Baertschiger said Bigcat Rhapsody had been missing the start in his races and he elected to not start the gelding with the barrier blanket on Sunday.
“He had raced with a barrier blanket in Australia before coming up here,” said Baertschiger.
“He missed the start in a trial with it and then missed the start last time, so we decided to take it off him today and he jumped much better.”
Baertschiger added that by jumping better from the barriers on Sunday he was able to race much handier than having to do any mid-race work.
“Last time he was jumping from 1400m to 2000m and when the pace was slow he took off mid-race to go to the lead,” said Baertschiger.
“It worked out much better for him today as he jumped well and was able to settle on the pace and did a good job to win.
“Hopefully there’ll be another win or two from him and the other horses will start showing thir form.”
Bigcat Rhapsody, a five-year-old New Zealand-bred by Darci Brahma from The Lions Roar, had one win and three minor placings from six starts in Australia before heading to Singapore, accumulating almost A$14,000 in prizemoney.
Sunday’s victory at Kranji netted Ingham around $18,000 with the promise of more to come.
