3 minute read
Jenssen Yu can’t wait for the borders and the skies to reopen when the pandemic situation improves.
In case you're picturing Lonely Planets and sunblock cream tubes all waiting to be packed into his bags, it's more a yearlings sale catalogue and his credit card the Singaporean businessman has in mind.
Yu is a new horse owner who just joined the game in February. While some take a long time to get a taste of that indescribable and intoxicating feeling of seeing their horse cross the line first for the first time, Yu got to live out that privilege after only a couple of tries.
Arion Success was his first pride and joy to salute last Sunday, coming from a midfield spot to finish over the top of his rivals under the guidance of John Sundradas, albeit inclined to hang in badly in the shadows of the post of a Class 4 race over 1100m on Polytrack.
The former River Brilliance, together with the highly-rated Arion Star (ex-River Radiance) and Arion Passion (ex-River Roca) are the three horses Yu has bought second-hand from their previous Macau-based owner Mr Ho Pui Kim.
Ideally, Yu wanted to build his team up from scratch, but with the current travelling restrictions around the world, he fell back on the more practical option of buying 'pre-loved' horses who are ready to go.
Local trainer Young Keah Yong, who's the one who brought Yu into racing, was delighted with the newbie owner's early success, hoping he will be just as lucky when he dips his toes into horse-buying at overseas sales.
"Jenssen is a young, enthusiastic and successful businessman who is very keen on racing. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to lead in his first winner and have his photo taken last Sunday because of the current restrictions, but he was still very excited with that first win," said Young.
"Now that he's caught the bug, his next goal is to go to the sales to get more experience. He wanted to do that from Day 1, but because of COVID-19, he had to start with transfer horses first.
"As this Macau owner, Mr Ho, had decided to stop racing in Singapore because of COVID-19, I told Jenssen about his three horses going for sale, and he was more than happy to buy them.
"Though he's already had a few starters like Arion Success (unplaced once before the win) himself and Arion Passion (two unplaced runs), Jenssen's success story can be considered as beginner's luck, too, since he only got his horse ownership badge last month.
"The whole idea is to get new young owners in and spark up their interest in horse racing, and their peers at the same time. Things are tougher now with no public allowed in, but these are the positive and encouraging signs the Club needs to give our racing industry a boost and a chance to see it through.
"Racing won't survive if we don't take care of the next generation of owners now, just like we need to find new jockeys and trainers to inject new blood.
"I can't wait to see Jenssen lead in a winner at the track one day, and I also look forward to taking him to the sales in Australia or New Zealand. That's another aspect of racing that is worth experiencing."
In the meantime, Young will try and keep that winning momentum on an upward trend for Yu's stable trio.
"I'm looking at the Class 4 1100m race for Arion Success, but I'll have to see how he works this week first," he said.
"For Arion Passion, he needs to get his fitness levels up, and we're taking our time with Arion Star. He's the best horse of the three and we're not rushing him."
When known as River Radiance under the helm of ex-trainer Mok Zhan Lun, the Rip Van Winkle five-year-old made a meteoric rise through the ranks, winning four races, including a three-in-a-row, to earn himself a spot among the elite.
He didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations in the first two Legs of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, and has not been seen since his unplaced effort in the Group 2 Merlion Trophy (1200m) in August.
