3 minute read
Jason Lim is not too worried about his slow start to the new season, confident his stable will gather steam very soon.
The Singaporean handler has only one winner on the scoreboard thus far, Metal World, who scored in the last race under Oscar Chavez on January 23.
By coincidence, it is the very same horse when then known as You Qian Zhuan who opened Lim's win-account last year on January 4, 2020, but it didn't then lead to a slump of form like this time around.
The Australian-trained handler and former assistant-trainer to British mentor David Hill kept up the same consistency for a midtable finish (13th) on 19 winners as the second-best local trainer after Desmond Koh (11th on 20 winners) for the 2020 season.
Lim, who is assisted by former jockey-turned-assistant-trainer Richard Lim (of no relation), explained he had actually braced himself for such a tentative start.
"It's something we expected to happen. Quite a few horses went up to Malaysia in December and we knew we would start the new season with a reduced string," he said.
"There are some new horses coming up and I hope they perform well. I think we should pick up some momentum soon."
Lim will be turning to arguably his current "star" Chicago Star to bring some much-needed joy and fortune in the $70,000 Fortune Ox Stakes Class 3 race over 1200m this Saturday at his comeback race since his last-start win from Heavenly Dancer in a Class 4 race over 1200m on November 21, which showcased a gutsy Joseph See outride four-time Singapore champion jockey Vlad Duric in a stirring go to the line.
If the superstitious were to look up the Exceed And Excel four-year-old's previous name in Australia, Chicago Bull, the signs (of Chinese astrological kind and all) to an auspicious outcome in the Year of the Ox couldn't be louder and clearer.
But Lim would rather go with his close knowledge of the former Australian Group 3-placed gelding (Maribyrnong Plate) and handy two-time winner from only five Kranji starts than read too much into such intangibles.
"He had a great trial last week (won on February 2 when he came from behind to narrowly beat stablemate Songgong Hera," he said.
"He had a short break after his last run and we have got him back to his fitness. He's fit and ready to go.
"He'll be running in a Class 3 race which is a step-up for him, but he's a horse who has actually benefitted from the break. He puts it together better, he's more mature and has a lot of upsides about him.
"Like we saw from his last win when he came across from a wide gate, he has a lot of gate speed. He's drawn wide (10) again and we'll stick to the same racing pattern."
Chicago Star is raced by Samy's Curry Restaurant's owner V Mahendran better known as Samy, who, recently, also transferred four-time winner Gentlemen Agreement from Shane Baertschiger to Lim. Gentlemen Exellent, who as recently as January 30 ran for Samy's SMR Racing Stable, was sold to MA Racing Stable and has already been renamed as The Marksman, but still with Baertschiger.
John Sundradas, who partnered Chicago Star at his first three Kranji starts for one win, will be back on top of Chicago Star on Saturday.
