The question was; could King Arthur win on the turf after five attempts without a result?
The answer was a resounding "yes!" when the Donna Logan-trained four-year-old – ridden by apprentice jockey Yusoff Fadzli - knocked in his first win on the turf in the $85,000 Gingerbread Man 2011 Stakes, a Class 2 race over 1200m when the $44 shot beat the fast-finishing Sprint Of Big Bang (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) by just under a length.
"Look these horses – turf or Poly(track) – I think the longer they are here and they are always racing on the Poly, they get accustomed to it," said Logan on King Arthur's breakthrough on the turf.
"But he has raced on the turf before and this horse gave me no indication he wouldn't like the turf."
Logan was full of praise for the owners, Fortuna NZ Racing Stable – who were on hand for the big win.
"Fortuna NZ Racing has been a huge supporter of Singapore racing since 2010," said the Kiwi handler.
"I'm hugely indebted to Fortuna for being part of our stable.
"They're a great team of owners and quite a few of them are on course to witness King Arthur's win."
Logan continued on her platitudes for the winning rider.
"It was a great ride by young Yusoff," Logan complimented.
"The claim was a major key. He rode him a treat. An eleven-out-of-ten ride!"
High praise indeed for the young jockey who spoke to racing presenter Raymond Yong after the race.
"It was my first ride on him on the turf," said Yusoff.
"I got a nice sit on the leaders and at the top of the straight, I got some room and he gave a nice burst.
"Thanks a lot to the owners for coming today and giving me strong support and Donna for giving me the opportunity."
John Galvin, director of Fortuna NZ Racing Stable, was ecstatic with the win.
"It's amazing," said Galvin who had six runners on Saturday's card.
"I haven't been to Singapore since four years ago because of (the) Covid-19 (pandemic).
"This is King Arthur's seventh win, not many get seven wins!
"Donna is my 'champion trainer' here – this is her 10th winner for Fortuna this year – we are very happy to be here!"
Winning return for Beasley
After a week of "enforced-holiday" (one-day suspension for careless riding aboard Surrey Hills) and another week of leave, jockey Danny Beasley returned to the winner's circle in race 2 on Saturday with an excellent ride on Amore Amore.
The $50,000 Bold Thruster 2019 Stakes, a Class 4 race over 1600m on the Polytrack saw Iron Ruler (Marc Lerner) go off the distinct favourite ($14) and it was probably the wide gate (10) that had Amore Amore head to the start at the each-way quote of $33.
The gate didn't bother Beasley, though, as he was very positive early to have the Lucky Unicorn Stable-owned five-year-old sat just behind the leaders with cover.
In the backstraight – and with Iron Ruler battling away a little worse than midfield, Beasley made a winning move by heading to the front at the 1000m.
The experienced hoop put the race to bed early in the straight when Amore Amore kicked strongly, leaving the likes of King Louis (Troy See) and Free Fallin' (Wong Chin Chuen) to fight out the minor placings.
"That was arguably the strongest race he has run in, he was still in Class 5 a couple of starts ago," said Beasley, who now has 20 winners for the season to sit fourth on the jockeys' premiership.
"(Trainer) James (Peters) has done a great job with him, got him out in trip and I think that's the key.
"Things worked out well today. We snuck around the corner with Poroshiri (Oscar Chavez) giving us a nice drag round that first turn which enabled me to use a bit of the horse in the backstraight.
"I had him in a good rhythm and the horse gave me a great ride.
"All credit to James, the horse and the team!"
Peters - who started the day with a winning strike rate 19.77% (the highest among all the trainers) – was equal in his praise of both the horse and the rider.
"He had to work really hard early to get to the front," explained the Englishman.
"But once Danny got there, he took a hold, gave him a little bit of breather and he was really strong to the line and struggled to pull him up.
"And he'll get further for sure."
200 and counting for Wong
Wong Chin Chuen – affectionately known as Jimmy – has a month or two to remember at Kranji.
In May, Wong rode his first Group 1 winner in Singapore when Lim's Lightning won the Group 1 Kranji Mile and now, he rode his 200th winner, Be You ($21), in Singapore on Saturday.
Well done, Jimmy (see previous report).
Other notables on the day
Trainer Desmond Koh bookended the meeting with wins in the opener with Northern Sun (Hakim Kamuruddin) and the Lucky Last with Legend Of The Sun (Iskandar Rosman), while Logan added Flashfast (Jake Bayliss) to her King Arthur win to knock in another double.
Peters backed up Amore Amore's win with Fort Mustang (Mohd Zaki) to add to his impressive 2022 tally, while Shane Baertschiger had a good day with Be You (Chin Chuen) and Shang Chi (Bayliss) winning race 4 and 7 respectively.
In the jockey ranks, Bayliss who was the only hoop to ride a double with Shang Chi and Flashfast but special mention to Oscar Chavez, for his masterful ride on Golden Monkey in the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (see later report).
