Debutant Major King surged past Star Victory to score a gutsy win in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1200m on Saturday.
The three-year-old son of Per Incanto came to Singapore on the back of one win in a barrier trial in New Zealand, followed by two barrier trial wins at Kranji prior to his debut. Hence, he was punted down to $10 favouritism in this small field of seven.
Ridden by apprentice jockey Hakim Kamaruddin, who recently had his apprentice jockey licence extended till the end of this year, the Jason Ong-trained newcomer jumped and found himself three wide alongside Kinabalu Prince (Oscar Chavez), who kicked up on his inside, and Pathfinder (Koh Teck Huat) on the rails.
Meanwhile, the leading pair of Amazing M (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) and Star Victory (Marc Lerner) kicked on in the straight, with the latter and Group 3 Singapore-Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) nominee making further inroads after being shown the stick by his French rider.
Major King , who had been following closely behind Star Victory, upped the ante late to motor past his opponent and won by three quarters of a length. Amazing M faltered late to finish another three-and-a-half lengths away.
The Star (Jake Bayliss), another Singapore 3YO sprint nominee in the race, opted for quieter tactics this time but he was seen pulling hard in the backstraight. The Tim Fitzsimmons-trained gelding could only manage to run seventh, more than nine lengths off the winner.
The winning time was 1min 12.30secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
Ong seems to have uncovered a raw gem for The Sisterhood Stable, but he prefers to "keep things open" when it comes to the nomination for the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) held four weeks later.
"He doesn't have a lot of speed, and I was a little worried when I saw Kinabalu Prince kept him three wide, but he ran well even if he's not 100% rock-solid fit," said the Singaporean trainer.
"He's shown a lot of potential when we bought him from New Zealand, where he won one trial. He also showed ability from two trials here.
"But he's still raw and immature and there's room for improvement but he's a horse I'm pretty excited with.
"I think we can look at the 1400m to the mile for him in future, so not the 3YO Sprint, but the 3YO Classic is a possible target.
"But I don't like to rush young horses, so I'll see how he pulls up first before deciding to run him or not."
Major King is the first among eight horses owned by The Sisterhood Stable, a group of local owners, and trained by Ong to score in Singapore. His win on debut has earned connections their first pay cheque of more than $40,000.
Five races later, The Wild Prince ($90) rang up a double for Ong after the four-year-old plugged away nicely on the rails under jockey Koh Teck Huat to take out the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race (1200m).
Hakim said that Major King is a promising horse, but he also revealed that the brown gelding had the tendency to hang in when put under pressure.
"This is the first time I ride him, but he is a very nice horse," said the Kelantan-born rider who went on to score back-to-back wins in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1200m atop Stenmark ($19) for his boss Donna Logan.
"I followed instructions and he jumped well, so we follow the horse (Star Victory) in front.
"I let him run comfortable and relaxed, and in the straight, I gave him a push and he wanted to shift in a little, but I just kept pushing him to the end.
"It's his first run today, but I think he can go over longer in future. For now, I think he's better on the 1200m."
