New Zealand-bred stayer Martin will head into this Sunday’s $1.35 million Group 1 Longines Singapore Gold Cup race with just a short build-up after a six-month spell away.
The five-year-old gelding has impressed in his two starts over 1400m and trainer Laurie Laxon had no reservations about saddling him for the 2200m trip of the handicap race.
“That’s been his style, it’s what he normally does,” said the Kiwi, who boasts an impressive training record with stayers such as Empire Rose in the 1988 Melbourne Cup (3200m) and Romanee Conti in the 1992 Hong Kong Cup (2000m). “He’s won before on a limited preparation and I’m happy with how he’s been going.”
In 16 starts, the bay galloper has won five times, with the most recent (the Group 3 Fortune Bowl over 2000m in February) at only his second-up run following another break.
Besides Martin (Danny Beasley), Laxon will also send out Dujardin (Saifudin Ismail) and Orakei Korako (Barend Vorster) as part of his three-pronged attack in one of Singapore’s most prestigious domestic races.
The Singapore Gold Cup is the final leg of the Triple Crown Series, which kicked off with the Panasonic Kranji Mile (1600m) followed by the Raffles Cup (1800m) won by Cash Luck and Super Ninetyseven respectively.
"They’ve been working well and everything looks good,” said Laxon, who is eyeing his third Gold Cup after previous triumphs with Raul (2004) and Recast (2007). “I’ve won this race before and I know what it takes to win it.”
He was particularly pleased with the form of his four-year-old gelding Orakei Korako, who has won three times in seven starts this year and did not look out of place in finishing third behind the well-fancied pair of Musketeer and Tropaios at last month’s El Dorado Classic over 2200m. Both are also scheduled to run in the Gold Cup.
“He’s a keen, good young horse,” said Laxon.
Though several of his fellow trainers have engaged leading Australian jockeys for Sunday’s feature race – including triple Melbourne Cup-winning rider Glen Boss, the veteran conditioner was happy to pick from the pool here.
“Saifudin and Vorster are both light weights and will ride at 50kgs while Danny has ridden Martin before,” said Laxon.
While last month’s Raffles Cup (1800m) has traditionally been seen as a good warm-up for the Gold Cup, none of Laxon’s runners were involved.
“There were other build-up races to get them ready for the Gold Cup,” said the seven-time champion trainer. “There was no point in sending them for it anyway, they were not ready to win.”
Come Sunday, he will hope that is no longer the case.
