Trainer Desmond Koh and his apprentice Tengku Rehaizat combined for a winning double on Sunday.
After winning the $65,000 Initiation Stakes with My Shine, the pair was back in the winner’s circle when the lightly-raced First Scoop took out the $55,000 Open Benchmark 61 Stakes over 1600m.
First Scoop showed he may be a stayer of the future with his victory coming from the tail of the field in accounting for Yastrzemski (Joao Moreira) by a length-and-three-quarters with Danny Ricardo (Soo Khoon Beng) a length-and-a-quarter away third.
Magic Diva (Sam Subien) led the way from Rough Day (Tan Wei Li) and Lonesome Me (Zuriman Zulkilfi) at an even tempo.
First Scoop, which had drawn the widest gate in the 12 horse line-up, was taken back to the tail by Rehaizat in the early stages. Going down the back Rehaizat came out three wide on the gelding but was happy to sit there before improving from the 600m mark.
Turning for home Magic Diva was starting to show signs of distress while Rough Day wobbled wide fractionally. Yastrzemski, which had been racing midfield on the fence, came to the centre to issue a strong challenge, but First Scoop had the last late run at that galloper and drew away for an easy win.
A four-year-old New Zealand-bred by Faltaat, First Scoop was having just his fourth race start on Sunday having come from a long back to win in maiden class back on February 15 over 1400m.
Koh said the gelding had plenty of problems when he first arrived in Singapore and didn’t make his racetrack debut until August last year. He pulled-up lame following that race and wasn’t sighted again until early February when he caught the eye in finishing second to Captivate over 1200m.
“He needed a while to get to the races,” said Koh. “He had a few issues that required time for him to get over.
“We patched him up and got him to the races and then we had to patch him up again.
“Hopefully now he’s over the worst of it. It has been worth spending the time getting him right.”
Koh said there were no immediate goals in place for First Scoop.
“We’ll just take it a step at a time,” said Koh. “I’ll let the horse tell me when and where he wants to race.
“We’ll see how he comes through this race and make a decision after that.”
Rehaizat said full credit must go to his boss – Koh – for his work in getting First Scoop to the races.
“We had our doubts with this horse as he was quite lame early on,” said Rehaizat. “He doesn’t know what racing is all about at this stage either.
“We were quite wide early on so I then decided to take my place at the back. We were three wide going down the back but from the 600m I started to work on him.
“The others pushed me wide on the hometurn, but I knew at the 400m I had them covered and he did it beautifully.”
