Debutant Mia lived right up to his early trial form with an all-the-way victory in the $65,000 Restricted Maiden over 1100m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Ridden by Corey Brown, Mia ($8 favourite) scored by a length over Laser Storm (Shafiq Rizuan) with Golden Brilliant (Saifudin Ismail) a length-and-a-quarter away third.
Interestingly the three placegetters were all facing the starter for the first time on Sunday.
New Zealand bred, Mia had won a barrier trial over 650m at Cambridge in New Zealand before heading to the stables of eight-time Premiership winner Laurie Laxon, where almost a year to the day later he was successful in a 1000m barrier trial at Kranji on December 10.
Jumping smartly from an inside draw, Mia initially sat in second place before booting up on the inside to assume control before the hometurn.
Challenges were quickly issued and the odds-on favourite looked to be in a shade of bother, but the gelding lengthened his stride in the shape of a smart horse, opening up a winning break that he was able to hold all the way to the line.
Mia is raced by Lim Siang Huat who also races Ami, a debut second for Shane Baertschiger last Friday night.
“Both horses were bought by Michael Kneebone from New Zealand Bloodstock for a new owner to Singapore racing,” said Laxon.
“Hopefully these two horses have whetted his appetite to get a few more.
“This horse has done everything right ever since he arrived here. He hasn’t given us a moment’s concern.
“He’s a push button sort of horse that I think will just continue to improve with more racing under his belt and on what he’s shown us so far he’ll have no problem getting over a bit more ground as well.”
Brown said he would have preferred taking a sit on Mia rather than leading on the gelding but he had to make use of his good barrier draw (two) and keep the lead.
“It wasn’t ideal drawing in two as we had to hold the fence and lead,” said Brown. “Ideally I would have loved to have been sitting on the outside of the leader.
“He’s still new to racing and really just floated up the straight and I think there was possibly only a half-length left in there in the tank.
“But I do think there is a lot of upside to come after this run with him. He was having a good look around and I do think we will see a lot more of him in the future.”
A New Zealand-bred three-year-old, Mia is by Castledale from Spontaneous Miss and collected around $35,000 in prizemoney for connections with his victory on Sunday.
