Trainer Cliff Brown and jockey Timothy Bell found out first-hand what it meant to be at the opposite receiving ends of racing’s ups-and-downs on Friday night when bungled starts saw two of their horses meet with contrasting fates.
Laughing Gravy got the pair’s night off to a disastrous start in Race 3 when the bold frontrunner forced through his gate, stumbled out awkwardly before being pulled out of the race by Bell. The horse was declared a runner as the barrier incident was deemed as his own undoing.
Putting that most inauspicious start to the night behind them (they actually paired up earlier for a sixth with Lethal Weapon), Brown and Bell met again five races later in the $80,000 Class 3 Division 1 race over 1100m, and how sweet was the revenge they exacted on their earlier flop with Battle Horse coming up trumps.
While no fairplay advocate like those two sportsmen would wish a similar mishap to any one of their fellow rivals, sods’ law was such that it was the turn of the even-money favourite Speedy Dragon (Kif Toh) to blow his start too, albeit not as extreme.
David Kok’s last-start winner missed the kick and had to be bustled up by Toh to rail through for a closer spot to the leaders who were going at a decent clip upfront. Speedy Dragon even started coursing out wide from the 700m, and nine times out of 10 in such scenarios, the endgame is normally counterproductive.
Speedy Dragon loomed out wide and still looked a chance for a fleeting second, but the strides soon looked laboured as he unsurprisingly faded to fifth place. Whether that played into the hands of Battle Horse ($26) is case for conjecture, but Bell was only too happy to grab the atonement from Laughing Gravy’s earlier debacle as he pushed his mount through inside the last 300m for a most deserving three-quarter-length win from the fast-finishing Eatons Gold (Shafiq Rizuan).
The General (Barend Vorster) ran third another 1 ¾ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 5.32secs.
“Racing is a funny caper, isn’t it? It’s all up and down at times,” said Brown.
“Timmy said the horse (Laughing Gravy) got his head stuck in the gates and they were a bit stiff. Anyway, it was a very unusual incident.
“But it’s good we got this win back. I was away in England for the sales and all credit should go to (assistant-trainer) Tim (Fitzsimmons) who did a very good job with this horse (Battle Horse) during that time.
“His last race (sixth to Raise No Doubt) wasn’t too bad. There was a slow tempo and he got back a fair bit.
“He actually ran similar sectionals to the winner that day and you could forget that run.”
Bell said he was quite bullish in his assessment of Battle Horse’s chances and was also complimentary of Team Brown for his fifth Singapore win.
“I was quite confident going into the race and credit to Mr Brown and the team for having well placed this horse,” said the former Brisbane champion jockey.
“I think he also relished the 52kg. He was so relaxed throughout and when I asked him for an effort, he let down so well.
“He did not really lay in this time. I pulled the stick through to the left hand and he straightened up well.”
A five-year-old son of War Pass, Battle Horse has already notched three wins and one third from six starts for stakes earnings close to the $120,000 mark for the Sand Lane Stable.
