South African jockey Barend Vorster is rather confident he holds a nice trump card regarding his prospects of being flung back in feature race limelight this Sunday.
The last time the former Singapore champion jockey (2004) claimed a Group race was on Chinese New Year day in 2015 when he bagged the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (2000m) aboard Emperor’s Banquet for the Tmen Stable and former No 1 supporter trainer Patrick Shaw.
Vorster, who has more than 730 winners under his belt and shares the bulk of Shaw’s former assistant-trainer Ricardo Le Grange’s riding duties with Nooresh Juglall, plus the odd lightweight rides outside, is not too bothered by the statistics, just happy to get a leg-up on a live chance like Mr Fantastic in the $200,000 Group 3 Committee’s Prize (1600m) on Sunday. The South African-bred six-year-old by Jet Master is raced by the same connections as Tmen Stable, Mark and Emily Yong of the Avengers Stable.
“It’s been a while since my last Group win, it would be nice to get another one,” said Vorster whose biggest triumph came in the now-defunct Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint aboard the Shaw-trained Ato in 2012.
“Mr Fantastic won a very good race at his last start (Kranji Stakes A race over 1400m carrying 52.5kgs), but is stepping up in class. There is a decent quality of horses around, but it’s a good challenge for him. I don’t see why he shouldn’t run well.
“We are stretching him a little bit as he’s won only once over the mile when (Mohd) Firdaus rode him (last October). He’s won mainly over 1200m when he was younger but he can go over further now.
“He’s all tough. He’s a little horse who come raceday will always bring his best.
“From the decent draw (No 7) he will push forward and he should run a good race even if he’s up against much better horses.”
Vorster could not fault his prep and condition since his last victory in that Kranji Stakes A race on July 30 when he fended off his better-credentialled stablemate Majestic Moments (Juglall), even if he was visually doing the assessment in close quarters at a recent hit-out.
Mr Fantastic, who is a third of a Le Grange three-pronged attack alongside Quechua (Vlad Duric) and Big Brother (Juglall), ran a solid barrier trial last Thursday, running a close second to one of his Committee’s Prize opponents Absolute Miracle, but it was Juglall who was in the irons that morning while Vorster was aboard Time Odyssey (fourth about half-a-length away).
“His trackwork has come along very well. I really liked his barrier trial last week even if I was not the one riding him,” said Vorster.
“I was on Time Odyssey and Mr Fantastic was always on my outside. He went to the line together very strongly with Absolute Miracle.
“It was a very good trial and it showed he was very good in himself. Fingers crossed he goes well on Sunday.”
