3 minute read
The penny seems to have finally dropped for Threeandfourpence after he doubled the dose with another spellbinding performance on Friday night.
The US-bred five-year-old by War Front came from near-last to get up at the last hop in a Kranji Stakes B race over the mile at his last outing.
While he again popped out of nowhere in the $70,000 Class 3 race over 1600m, it was the adversity he had to overcome and his sheer tenacity that impressed the most this time.
Scraping paint worse than midfield for most of the race, Threeandfourpence (Michael Rodd) would not have given the backers who stuck with him at $48 plenty to shout about when he was shuffled back to second-last ahead of only Star Jack (Noh Senari) nearing the home turn, while favourite Vittoria Perfetta (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) was still giving plenty of sight after a bold attempt to make all.
But when a gap appeared between Caribbean Lady (Wong Chin Chuen) and Elite Remarkable (Benny Woodworth) at the 400m, Cliff Brown's galloper darted through without further ado, even if he had to wriggle his way out when he ran out of room again.
The bump did knock the stuffing out of him a touch, but well ridden by Rodd, he forged ahead to go and score by half-a-length from the well-backed Global Kid (Ruan Maia) with Vittoria Perfetta hanging on for third place another nose away.
The heart-stopping finish saw On Line (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) miss a podium finish by a short head away with Threeandfourpence's stablemate Hardcore (Alysha Collett) storming home late for fifth place on the outside, beaten only a neck. The winning time was 1min 35.71secs for the 1600m on the Long Course.
After having raced in Europe, USA and Dubai for two wins, Threeandfourpence was registering his third Singapore win from nine starts, and has now seen his local bank account swell past the $130,000 mark for his new connections, the Forever Lucky Stable, represented by Josh McLoughlan at the winner's circle.
"I'm thrilled for the owners, and I'm thrilled for the horse – what a ride by Michael, that's why we put him on our horses, he's the best," said the Australian.
"The horse had to pick his way through, he just knew what he had to do. There is a good race for this horse down the road.
"Cliff has done a good job with him. He just keeps improving all the time."
Rodd was as usual very systematic and detailed in his post-race debrief.
"This horse has taken a while to settle in like most horses from England, but in the last two months, he has hit his straps," said the Australian jockey.
"His acceleration going downhill was phenomenal. He doesn't like to run among horses, so it was a big effort to go again and come over the top of them.
"His sectionals were quite remarkable, it was a good win. He is a little bit quirky but he has a massive engine."
