3 minute read
Trainer Desmond Koh couldn’t have been in better spirits after good friend Bernard Tan and his wife Catherine led in their very first winner on Friday night, Asia Spirit.
The Singaporean handler had been wanting to see the first-time owners have their first taste of victory for a while, anticipating the big break might have come with Thomas De Lago in the last race on Sunday.
But after the Dylan Thomas six-year-old could only run fifth in the Class 4 race over 1100m, Koh and the Tan's had to bide their time a little while longer to see the eye-catching Ninety Six Stable black silks with a golden B shine at Kranji.
The wait proved to be short, though, because Asia Spirit ($47) came through at the very first race of the next meeting, the $30,000 King Louis 2018 Stakes, a Class 5 Division 1 race over 1000m.
Travelling like a winner throughout under Koh's former apprentice jockey Tengku Rehaizat, the Bel Esprit seven-year-old franked that impression further when he collared race-leader Ko Olina (Chan Wei Sheng) with great resolve before putting the race to bed with a one-and-a-quarter length win from Sun Elizabeth (Syahir Abdul).
Aabir (Zawari Razali) ran third another three parts of a length away. The winning time was 58.97 seconds for the 1000m speed dash.
"I'm so happy for Bernard and his lovely wife Catherine. I would like to specially dedicate that win to Catherine as she's a real horse lover," said Koh.
"Bernard is a very good friend of mine and started to support me this year with three horses (third one is the unraced Ninetysix Warrior by Keeper). He's been very patient and it's great to see him finally have a first winner, thank you Bernard.
"Thomas De Lago ran a nice fifth last Sunday and tonight, Asia Spirit franked the good form he showed at his last start (third in a Class 5 race over 1100m on August 30) with a nice win.
"Hopefully, there will be more winners for Bernard and Catherine from now on."
The Tan's will have to wait for another meeting for that to happen as Asia Spirit was their only runner for the night, but Koh, who has a day off on Sunday with no runners carded, was able to head down to the winner's circle for a second time when debutant Luck Of Master (Wong Chin Chuen) flew home to make it a Koh double three events later in the $20,000 Sebrose 2015 Stakes, an Open Maiden Division 1 race over 1400m.
"He's been working well and I was also happy with his three barrier trials," said Koh whose horses are definitely starting to hit their straps after a subdued start to 2019.
"He was drawn well (two) and I expected a good run first-up and he didn't disappoint. Horses are running well and it's very encouraging, let's hope we keep up the momentum."
Luck Of Master ($63) was bringing up Koh's 10th winner for the year. Last year this time, the US-trained conditioner was on 16 winners and went on to pad up his score to 21 winners by year-end.
