Singaporean trainer Young Keah Yong saddled a brilliant race-to-race double after Lord Of The Cloud got up in a closely-contested finish in the penultimate race on Sunday.
Victorious in the previous race with $231 smokie Crown Gift, the first full-season trainer doubled up with another runner not many had marked down on their shortlist, especially with the likes of Pennywise, Enchanted Mister and Quarter Back in the mix.
But with a quote of $66, it was definitely not as jaw-droppingly long as the earlier shock win.
Once viewed as a potential dark horse in this year’s Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, Lord Of Cloud did not quite measure up – actually drawing attention for the wrong reasons with an unscheduled bucking bronco performance at the start of the second Leg, the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic – with his subsequent runs as a four-year-old not any earth-shattering either.
With Young chopping and changing the Niagara entire’s racing programme over a pot-pourri of trips at his last four starts (1700m-1400m-1100m-1600m), it seemed even connections were not quite sure where to cubbyhole him.
But after Sunday’s win in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1400m, Young said the seven furlongs might be his strongest suit after all.
“When he races on sand, he kicks away strongly in the last furlong. That’s why I’ve kept trying him over new distances,” said Young as he lets in on his training strategy.
“But I think that the 1400m is his pet distance. The wide draw (12) was my main concern today, but it’s worked out good in the end.”
While Young was at the double, it could have been the same score for leading apprentice jockey Troy See since he was down to ride Lord Of Cloud, but it wasn’t to be as he could not make the 52.5kgs weight.
The winning pick-up ride went to Amirul Ismadi, who himself, has been flying of late. Lord Of Cloud, a horse he had never ridden before, was his 13th winner of the season, just one behind third-placed Noh Senari, and 12 behind See.
“The trainer was quite confident he would run well even though he had an awkward draw. I don’t know the horse, but after I quickly ran through the handicap, I could see he had ability,” said Stephen Gray’s apprentice jockey.
“The horse jumped well and slotted into a nice place in fifth spot. In the straight, he kicked on very nicely.
“Thank God things are going very well for me at the moment. Hope it stays that way.”
Interestingly, it was Amirul’s uncle, veteran hoop and multiple Malaysian champion jockey Azhar Ismail (brother to his father, jockey-turned-trainer Ismadi Ismail) who could have denied him the win. Also a substitute jockey on the Michael Clements-trained Quarter Back after Alysha Collett was stood down following her race fall from Drone in Race 6, Azhar launched his mount with a withering run on the outside only to miss out by a short head.
Enchanted Mister (Olivier Placais) tried to pinch the race when he took off at the point of the turn, but he was swamped late by the winner and his runner-up, to take third place another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 22.99secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
After a ground-saving run on the rails, $12 favourite Pennywise (Glen Boss) loomed like a good thing at the 400m, but did not have the necessary turn of foot to put the race away.
That third win from 12 starts has swollen Lord Of Cloud’s account to around the $120,000 mark for the Billion Dollars Stable.
