The Alwin Tan-Oscar Chavez team warmed up for their upcoming desert raid with victory coming from Angry Cat on Friday night.
The pair head to Dubai next week to saddle last Sunday’s Merlion Trophy winner El Padrino in the US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m) at Meydan on March 28. The race Rocket Man famously won in 2011 is, along with eight other glamour races, part of the rich pickings at the Dubai World Cup night
While the $38,000 Kranji Stakes D (1100m) race is a minnow of a race compared to the Golden Shaheen which will be contested by some of the best sprinters in the world like Hong Kong’s Lucky Nine and Rich Tapestry and US sprinter Big Macher, it was still a handy confidence booster for Tan and Chavez ahead of the Dubai assignment.
“I hope it is a good kickstart for us in Dubai,” exclaimed Tan at the winner’s box.
“Oscar did a good job on this horse and I hope we will be just as successful with El Padrino.
“This horse (Angry Cat) is an ordinary Class 4 horse and he’s been struggling against the new up-and-coming lot of youngsters, facing new challenges all the time.
“He just had to wait for the right race, like this Kranji Stakes D race and he was able to win a race.”
At his fifth win from 43 outings for stakes earnings in excess of $300,000, Angry Cat ($25), who is also wholly owned by Tan, wore the same colours (white, light blue sleeves with white spots) El Padrino had when he won the Merlion Trophy and the Asia Challenge Cup in Korea last August, although El Padrino races under the One Eight Eight Stable.
Settled on the rails in midfield after jumping from the inside alley, the five-year-old son of Estambul produced a stinging turn of foot when he was peeled out to the middle of the track upon straightening, defeating Benji’s Empire (Firdhaus Rafi) by half-a-length. Dreamcatcher (Shafiq Rizuan) ran third another three-quarter length away. The winning time was 1min 6.27secs for the 1100m on Polytracl.
“He travelled like a winner from the 700m. I took him to the right to get the right run and he was just too good tonight,” said Chavez.
“I was only worried about the weight (58kgs) but he ran on well and got there on time.
“This is a nice race to win for Alwin and myself before Dubai. El Padrino has never been fitter and if he gets the right tempo he will be there.
“They now run on dirt and not Tapeta, but he did race on sand in Korea and it’s quite similar. I’ll be happy if he can finish in the top six.”
To cap off a very "Happy" night indeed, Tan went on to score a hat-trick of wins later on when Happy Saga (Troy See, $17) won the Class 5 Division 1 race over 1200m and Happy Happy (Craig Newitt, $38) took out the $38,000 Kranji Stakes D race over 1200m.
As another perfect send-off of sorts for Tan, Happy Saga, a three-year-old by Real Saga, races in the red and green colours of One Eight Eight Stable of Mr Chua and partners, who also race El Padrino.
