3 minute read
COVID-19 has brought racing on its knees, but every now and then, you hear of positive fallouts for that bit of an uplift, and Grand Fighter is one of them.
The son of Per Incanto was originally bought for Hong Kong interests last year, but when the pandemic struck, the deal fell through for some reason.
The four-year-old eventually ended up with Singaporean handler Leslie Khoo. Hong Kong's loss has turned out to be Singapore's gain with Grand Fighter making it an instant payday at his very first race in the $20,000 Open Maiden race over 1200m.
While his barrier trials had not been bad at all (four placings from as many trials), punters had somehow shied away from him going with his generous odds of $114, but they are likely to heed his presence better from now on.
Hot on the heels of Who Loves Bae (Hakim Kamaruddin) from the off, Grand Fighter bided his time before sweeping past Desmond Koh's well-tried debutant upon straightening to charge towards a comfortable two-length win.
Who Loves Bae held on stoutly for second place, three-quarter length clear of odds-on favourite Malibu Beach (John Powell). The winning time was 1min 12.53secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack.
"He's a good horse that was bought for Hong Kong, but when COVID-19 came, he couldn't go there. So we raced him here instead," said Khoo.
"I was not very confident as I thought horses No 1 (Who Loves Bae) and No 8 (Malibu Beach) were hard to beat.
"Still, I told the jockey to jump well and sit handy. If the others want to go forward, just let them go, and do your best.
"In the straight, he got to the front, but when the other horse came again, he wanted to go again. I think he'll keep improving from today's run."
Khoo's yard was on song on Sunday after they went on to saddle a double with Super Ray ($27) four races later in the $30,000 Class 5 race over 1200m. The win from the Nadeem five-year-old also turned out to be a lucky pick-up ride for A'Isisuhairi Kasim after champion jockey Vlad Duric was stood down by order of the doctors a couple of races earlier.
A'Isisuhairi was also recording a brace after he saluted earlier aboard Kinabalu Warrior (see other report).
