Jockey Oscar Chavez was the outright hero on Friday night after he booted home a winning treble in quick succession.
He began his blitz in Race 5 with Shaqraa for Shane Baertschiger, doubled up aboard Sugartime Jazz for Daniel Meagher in the next event before wrapping up the night with a third win on the bounce aboard Saraab for Ricardo Le Grange in the penultimate race, the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1700m.
While Chavez seldom snares the riding honours at Kranji, it was actually not that long ago that he pulled off a similar feat – March 27, 2016, a day he could not possibly forget as after he won aboard Real Hero and Golden Jade, he then captured his last feature race, the Group 3 Dester Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) aboard Conflight.
That recent hat-trick of wins on Friday will probably not come into the same league for Chavez, but he was just as pleased by the achievement.
“It’s been a tough year, but it’s good to ride a treble every now and then. Tonight, things just fell into place,” he said.
“That horse (Saraab) has some gate speed and he was very competitive tonight. When we jumped out, nobody else wanted to led, so we just rolled forward and he set a beautiful pace.
“Once in front, he settled very well. He was actually cantering, and I told myself for a horse to beat me, he would have to go real hard.
“In the straight, I clicked him up and he took off again. (Manoel) Nunes’ horse (Ground Control) came close, but that was when he went again.”
Le Grange, who was registering his 50th winner for the year, praised Chavez for his 10-out-of-10 handling.
“It was a great ride from Oscar, but the horse was also fit and well,” said the South African handler who was notching up a training double courtesy of Super Denman earlier.
“We discussed before the race and I told Oscar we should try and go forward and then let them catch us if they can.
“This horse runs well fresh and it’s also great from the guys in Argentina who look after these horses there.
“I’m a lucky man to be in this position right now. You can never do this alone and here, I have to thank my staff for the great work they do at the stable, my mentor Patrick Shaw and of course all my owners.”
A four-year-old by Heliostatic, Saraab ($29) keeps showing good consistency in his performances with a record of two wins and three placings from six outings for stakes earnings that now stand just a touch over the $110,000 mark for the Al-Arabiya Stable.
