Trainer Shane Baertschiger played down his part in turning around the fortunes of the vastly-improved Wonderful after the unbeaten run under his care stretched to five wins in a row on Monday.
The Hidden Dragon five-year-old did show potential at six starts for his first handler Mark Walker, but somehow, could not break the deadlock, coming up with four seconds and one third.
The owner (Lai Chan Chong) then moved the gelding to Baertschiger, and the results seem to have vindicated his decision.
But his second handler said it was all about acclimatisation.
“Some horses improve when they change environment. They take a bit longer to acclimatise,” said Baertschiger.
“But he’s been a really ‘wonderful’ horse. He never wins by far but he has such a great heart, he’s very honest and gutsy.
“He gave the second horse (Constant Justice) seven kilos and it was also a great ride by JP (John Powell). He was able to find the fence from barrier 10 and when they parted on the fence, that was another big factor.”
Longshot Constant Justice (Shafrizal Saleh) indeed looked like he would lead the field a merry dance when he approached the home turn still full of running, but he suddenly lugged out under pressure upon cornering. Wonderful who was creeping up on the rails – after coming across from a wide gate courtesy of a nifty piece of riding from Powell – took full advantage of that opportunity, getting up by a head from Constant Justice.
Lightning Fast (Wong Chin Chuen) ran third another 1 ½ lengths away, a short head from favourite Distinctive Darci (Manoel Nunes). The winning time was 1min 5.68secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack of the $100,000 Longevity Stakes, an Open Benchmark 83 race.
After such a winning streak, loftier targets would normally start to pop up in the head, and Baertschiger admitted to have started toying with one.
“I could look at the Merlion Trophy for him. We’ll see how it goes,” said the Australian handler who already has Lincoln Road tagged for the Group 2 Polytrack race over 1200m on March 5.
Powell agreed that the former one-time winner (Canterbury over 1200m) from as many starts in Australia (when known as Expectation and trained by Sydney premier trainer Chris Waller) would be a suitable contender for the first Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series.
“He’s been a very good horse and has now won five in a row for us,” said Powell.
“Shane has done a good job with him and today things just worked out perfect for us. They went quick enough and we were able to get the fence.
“Sometimes, things just go your way. I thought the leader got off the fence too early, and I didn’t want to get there too early.
“But he grounded his way into the gap very well and it was a good solid win in the end. He is definitely worth considering for the Merlion Trophy.”
With that fifth win, Wonderful has now taken his earnings close to the $280,000 mark for his owner.
