3 minute read

The atmosphere at Kranji was emotionally-charged after Gangnam Classic got up in a blanket finish to score for his late owner George Tay on Friday night.

Tay was best known as the owner of handy racehorses like Maple Star and Raise No Doubt. First associated with trainers Stephen Gray and then Daniel Meagher, he recently joined Saimee Jumaat and has also created a new outfit called the Mugung Equine Stable.

The 66-year-old businessman passed away on Tuesday. His funeral will take place on Sunday.

Saimee, who has now taken over the ownership of the dozen of horses he trained for Tay, including Gangnam Classic, was struggling to compose himself at the post-race interview.

“It’s been a difficult time at the stable with the passing of George, a long-time supporter of Singapore racing,” said the former Singapore multiple-champion jockey.

“This is his horse even if he was recently transferred to my name, like the other 11 horses he owned under the Maple Stars Stable and Mugung Equine Stable.

“It’s really touching for me to win with his horse tonight. I hope he’s watching from up there.

“I actually thought of scratching Gangnam Classic and the other horse Cognitive Intact (Race 4), but his son insisted that we left them in the race. He said his dad was passionate about racing and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

In-form jockey Noh Senari also paid tribute to Tay as he unsaddled for his fourth winner of the season, incidentally shooting to the top of the log at his very first year as a senior jockey.

“This win is for George. He was a great supporter of Singapore racing,” said the young rider.

“May he rest in peace.”

Gangnam Classic’s win – the first after 21 vain attempts – was not achieved without some hard graft, and quite possibly, one would like to think, some help from above.

One indeed could not be too bullish about the Dream Ahead five-year-old’s winning chances at the 400m with all exits shut out behind a wall of four horses, but once a split came up, he lengthened up between runners to scrape home by a nose from the fast-finishing Accumulation (Daniel Moor) with Glamorous (Troy See) another neck away.

The winning time was 1min 24.39secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.

“This horse has learned a lot. At the 400m, he was asking for room,” said Noh.

“When I asked for it, he just won it for me.”

Noh’s night turned into a red-letter night later when he went on to notch his first career treble with My Friends (Race 4, $98) in the $20,000 Open Maiden Division 2 race over 1400m and odds-on favourite ($9) Gain Eclipse (Race 5) in the $38,000 Kranji Stakes D Division 1 race over 1200m.

“Thank you to all the trainers for the rides and opportunities,” said an elated Noh.

“When you see the field, nothing could beat her (Gain Eclipse). She was perfect tonight, and honestly, if you put a monkey on her, she would have still won!”

Trainer Steven Burridge would probably not agree with the modest jockey, but still praised the New Zealand-bred four-year-old mare by Iffraaj for her gameness.

“She’s not very big. The weights showed she was down 16 kilos but I was not too worried because when it rains like that, the scales get all messed up,” said the Australian handler.

“She ate her food, had a good barrier, and the boy rode her well.

“You’ve got to be very timid with her. You can’t do a lot of work with her.”