The month of October has not been too kind to trainer Sam Chua, but he can at least sign it off with a total of two wins courtesy of the same horse, the very useful Accomplished.
After the full-brother to Chua’s former top galloper Super Gold scored his last win on October 5, wins had eluded the Singaporean handler until the trusty four-year-old returned to the track to snap the run of outs in Friday’s $80,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1400m.
The task looked stiff, though, with smart types like Flak Jacket (Rueven Ravindra) and the resuming Power Lion (Daniel Beasley) both chasing a four-in-a-row, and Lim’s Harvest (John Powell) looking to go two better after his promising debut third to the same Flak Jacket four weeks ago.
But given a peach of a ride by apprentice Joseph See, his last-start winning partner in a Kranji Stakes C race over the mile, Accomplished ($35) burst through the pack at the 300m to collar Flak Jacket, who had tried to establish as soft a lead as possible given he was tackling the seven furlongs for the first time at Kranji.
Rueven gave his all, but despite all his determination, Flak Jacket could not hold off the superior turn of foot and stamina of Accomplished, who defeated him by 1 ¾ lengths. Favourite Power Lion looked like he could overpower the pair at the 200m, but his lack of fitness told in the end as he peaked on his run to run third another neck away.
The winning time was 1min 22.95secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
Chua heaped praise on his October saviour, saying he is making headway with every run, though he is still learning about the racing caper.
“That was probably one of his best wins as he was up against some very nice horses tonight,” he said.
“But we knew there would be plenty of pace and Joe and I decided we would take a sit and let him come home.
“As he can go over further and probably up to 1800m, he finished better than Flak Jacket inside the last 200m.
“He’s a horse with a big heart and I hope he can become as good as his full-brother Super Gold. I will probably give him a break now. He’s earned it.”
It is understandable Chua is keen to handle the now five-time winner with extreme care given what Super Gold has achieved for him – giving him up to now his only two “Black Type” wins, the Group 3 Committee’s Prize (2009) and Group 3 Moonbeam Vase (2010).
With that fifth success and seven placings from 13 starts, Accomplished, who is by Golden Snake out of Gold Patriot, has now brought his earnings close to the $250,000 mark for the Happy Winning Stable.
See said Accomplished still had plenty of upsides given the way he raced away in the last bit, but was slightly concerned when he looked a little boxed in midrace.
“I was happy where I was as I had some cover. He settled very, but I was a bit worried there would be no way out turning into the straight,” said the Singaporean apprentice jockey.
“There was a small gap that came up, and luckily it grew bigger and I was able to go for it and he then just did the rest on his own.
“He was hanging in and out a bit in the home straight, but he’s a horse who is improving all the time.”
