If there is a new partnership which is gaining a bit of traction these days, it may well be that of trainer Alvin ‘CT’ Kuah Cheng Tee and jockey Derreck David.
Both trainer and rider are relative newcomers to Kranji, having both received the nod for a licence this year. Though the South African hoop did get a leg-up on the odd ride for Kuah before, it’s only in the last three weeks or so that they have been combining a lot more frequently.
After a few placings, the duo finally got lucky with $13 favourite Lucky Stride in the opening event on Friday, an Open Maiden race over 1400m, even it was not all that pretty. The well-bred US-bred three-year-old by Giant’s Causeway suddenly took over David in the straight to finish on the grandstand side, but still got home well clear of runner-up Galileo’s Approach.
Kuah and David recombined for one more runner on Sunday, Silver Power, who though not as fancied as Lucky Stride, also gave them a second hurrah when he came with an explosive turn of foot at the top of the straight to blow away his rivals in the $35,000 Class 5 race over 1000m.
Double Cash (Antonio da Silva) set a decent clip which strung the field out a little, enabling Silver Power ($86), who drew wide, to tuck into a nice spot in fifth with cover.
Feeling that he had plenty of horse under him, David decided to niggle at his mount as early as the 400m mark. Silver Power suddenly dashed to the front in one fell swoop, catching his rivals napping.
By the time the chasing pack reacted, Silver Power was already out of reach, with Flying Shadow (Alan Munro) doing his best work at the finish to cut the margin back to 1 ½ lengths with Infermo (Troy See) third another head away. The winning time was 59.83 seconds for the 1000m on the Polytrack.
“Derreck has had a good partnership with me lately. He had two rides for me this week and both won, and now I’ve put him on an EA (Forest King),” said Kuah.
“This horse (Silver Power) has improved as we could see from his last race when he came from well back with Derreck to run third.
“The barrier was a concern, but I told Derreck not to worry too much about it. Take your time and he should be able to get a nice spot, and that’s exactly what happened.
“I dropped him back to 1000m today and it’s paid off. He works very well on Polytrack, and I think he can still go over 1200m.”
David took the opportunity to thank Kuah and the connections for the two winning rides over the weekend, especially after he hit a bit of a lean spell since September (last winner was Higher Soul on September 25), including incurring a two-day suspension.
“I rode both horses at their last starts, and after discussing with CT, we thought both horses had their chances this week,” said David.
“We were more confident with Lucky Stride, and even if he was hard work in the straight, he still won well.
“As for Silver Power, I was lucky when the field split up in two portions and I was able to get a nice spot in the first half.
“He pinched a big break at the top of the straight and was way too good.”
A two-time winner in Australia where he raced as Commands The World, Silver Power, a four-year-old by Conatus, was posting his first Singapore win in 13 starts, which had previously seen him finish on the board (third) only once, at his last outing.
