Despite looking green as grass, Richebourg has already racked up an enviable record of two-from-two at Kranji, a clear sign he has the prerequisite to become a more than handy horse in the future.
An impressive debut winner in an Open Maiden race over 1000m a fortnight ago, the Real Saga four-year-old has done it again, this time coming in Sunday’s Raffles Cup meeting opener, the $45,000 Gilt Complex 2017 Stakes, a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1100m.
With Mark Walker’s apprentice jockey Zawari Razali again doing the steering, the race turned out to be a blueprint of the maiden run – both at the business end and for his midrace quirks.
Just like at his debut win, Richebourg, who is named after a French wine, was not all that mature in transit, getting on and off the chewy, but getting on with it once Zawari peeled him out to the outside.
After a journey best described as stop-start, Richebourg put in the big bounds at the 250m, but then began to lug in under pressure. Zawari did his best to keep him on the straight and narrow towards the line, and ultimately, it was again the gelding’s raw ability that saw him double the dose.
Richebourg won by 1 ¾ lengths from Dreamer Legend (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) with Hunting Tower (Marc Lerner) third another half-length away. The winning time was 1min 5.87secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
Walker, who incidentally won his last race with Richebourg at that first win on September 9, said that his new ward was still work in progress and would be a much better horse once the penny drops.
“He had a few issues at the gates, but he seemed a lot better today,” said the two-time Singapore champion trainer, who with that 37th success, chips back the margin a little on the leading trio (Shane Baertschiger and Lee Freedman tied on 46 wins and Michael Clements on 44 wins).
“He was hesitant around horses, but once he was peeled to the outside, he put the race away quite well.”
Zawari jumped off saying he again had that sinking feeling he was sitting on a goner at the halfway mark - which would have even more serious consequences this time given his much shorter odds of $8 compared to his $69 quote on debut.
“Last time, he didn’t have a tongue-tie and he was hard work. He had a tongue-tie on today, but he was still off the bit,” he said.
“At the 800m, I didn’t think he could win. I was trying to get him to move, but he was not travelling.
“It’s only when he saw daylight in the last 300m that he finally turned it on. He was laying in, but he was able to get home.”
The Triomphe Stable has already pocketed around $35,000 in prizemoney with their unbeaten galloper. Though he is an Australian-bred, Richebourg was originally prepped in New Zealand where he won a barrier trial at Taupo before coming to Singapore.
