A lot of hard work and patience went into the debut win of Jet Ace in the $65,000 Restricted Maiden over 1000m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Sent out the $8 punters elect, Jet Ace, ridden by Joao Moreira, scored by a length-and-three-quarters from Magical Sunset (Stephen Baster) with Gold Halo (Saifudin Ismail) a half-length away third.
It was almost a year to the day when Jet Ace first arrived in Singapore as a two-year-old but it took trainer Sam Chua and his staff all of that time to get the gelding to races.
“He came up here as a two-year-old but was very immature,” said Chua.
“It has taken us a year to get him to the races.
“He showed he could gallop right from the day he got here but it took us a long time to get him to pass his barrier test.
“Luckily the owners were very patient. I told them that the horse had a lot of ability but he was proving a handful at the barriers.
“We had to give him many trials to get him to pass so he could finally make it to the races.
“It was lucky that we were able to get 'Magic Moreira' to ride him also.”
The win of Jet Ace was Moreira's 54th for the season but the champion jockey will be spending some time on the sidelines coming up after receiving a suspension at Warwick Farm in Sydney on Saturday.
Moreira is free to ride Better Than Ever in next Sunday's Group 3 Merlion Trophy over 1200m before starting a suspension which will see him back in action in time to ride Super Easy in the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint over 1200m on March 30.
Moreira said Jet Ace had to overcome a check early in the race and then greenness to score on debut.
“He was checked just after the start and then I was steady on him and just allowed him to make up the ground,” said Moreira.
“He wanted to hang in up the straight and is still very green but he wanted to win.
“He's got a lot of ability and with further maturity I think he will develop into a nice horse.”
A three-year-old New Zealand-bred by No Excuse Needed from the Stravinsky mare Wahaha, Jet Ace is owned by the Te Mania Stable.
Moreira made it a race-to-race double when he led throughout aboard Naturalbornfighter in the $55,000 Class 4 Stakes over 1000m.
