Casing Royal returned to winning ways under an inspiring ride from jockey Oscar Chavez on Sunday.
The Showcasing four-year-old had been turning in decent runs since his last win in October, but his latest efforts in Kranji Stakes C company did not really bring much cheers to trainer Alwin Tan and his owner, the Royal Stable.
Tan had always thought Casing Royal as a potential Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge candidate, but with the first Leg, the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) in just over a month’s time on May 28, he knew he was running out of time for a performance that would justify such lofty ambitions.
Punters obviously did not think he could turn his form around in Sunday’s $80,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1600m, as evidenced by his lukewarm odds of $62, and neither did Tan as a matter of fact, but Casing Royal thrived over the muddling-run race to defy all odds right on the wire.
Caught three wide in the small eight-race field, Casing Royal never looked out of his comfort zone, though, and when first-time partner Oscar Chavez set him alight at the top of the straight, he gave a powerful kick to join the fray.
After taking up the running, the Ricardo Le Grange-trained favourite Might Kenny (Nooresh Juglall) came under siege left right and centre when Zeus (Vlad Duric) poured more pressure at the top of the straight with Mighty Kenny’s stablemate The Capital (Barend Vorster) also lengthening up on the inside.
But it was Casing Royal who took many by surprise with the most decisive turn of foot as he swept past the Le Grange pair, sticking on manfully to also thwart a late charge from Turquoise King (Manoel Nunes) and Chase (Danny Beasley).
In the end, Casing Royal got home by a neck from The Capital with Turquoise King third another length away. The winning time was 1min 38.9secs for the 1600m on the Polytrack.
With that sixth win, Casing Royal has now taken his earnings past the $290,000 mark for his connections, with Tan now hoping the bank will swell further from the rich pickings of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge back on the table.
The famed series kicks off with the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) on May 28, followed by the Group 1 Patron’s Bowl (1600m) on June 18 and finally the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) on July 9.
“I will set him for the 4YO series now. I think he is more on the staying side,” said the 2016 Singapore champion trainer who already has Infantry in the mix for the Challenge.
“I will see how he pulls up first before deciding which Legs he will go for as he’s a horse who needs some rest to be at his best.
“He’s a horse when you can get right, he can show a pretty nice turn of foot. He has not won for a while and I’m glad for the owner he’s won today.
“We discussed and we decided he needed a strong rider and that’s why we tried our luck with Oscar today. Oscar was very happy with his work, but I was still not very confident.
“It turned out to be the right decision to put Oscar on in the end.”
The Panamanian-born jockey who has had a quieter season compared to last year’s (only two previous winners thus far, both prepared by Tan – White Coffee and Gato Negro) was indeed grateful to Tan for giving him the nod for that job.
“A big thank you to Alwin and the owner for putting me on this horse. I’ve never ridden him before but I was very happy with his gallop on Tuesday,” said Chavez.
“He is quite a moody horse in that he doesn’t like to run between horses. Today, he really enjoyed being on his own even if he was three wide; there was no pressure.
“He was able to put his mind on the job and when I asked him to quicken up at the top of the straight, he worked really hard all the way to the line.”
