3 minute read
Kharisma and Sure Will Do bring that touch of X factor to this Saturday’s $300,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m), but if their trainer Stephen Gray had his way, he would rather cross both names out.
With five wins between the four-year-old pair in the last two months, they are this year's upwardly mobile brazen youth throwing down the gauntlet at the bigger established stars like Grand Koonta, Zac Kasa, Top Knight and Fame Star.
Racing fans love a story about new kids on the block punching their way to the main stage, but as much as Kharisma and Sure Will Do have qualities in spades and wouldn't really shock if they claim some scalps, a realistic Gray said they were punching above their weight – literally.
"It all comes down to the handicaps. At weight-for-age, both horses are badly handicapped," said the Kiwi trainer.
"Between the two, Kharisma (x Mossman) put his hand up after his last win (in a Kranji Stakes A race over 1200m on turf on April 4), his first time winning on turf. We were like 'where do we go' from here, the Lion City Cup is next up, but it's a weight-for-age race, and at the same time, the owner (Dago Stable) wants to have a go in a race of prestige.
"Kharisma is a more seasoned warhorse, but Sure Will Do (x Per Incanto) is also a very good horse who goes better on grass. He's very talented, and has really blossomed and improved dramatically.
"Again, he'd be taking on fast horses at handicap conditions that don't suit. Do we keep him rolling or we look for a Class 2 race which, to me, would have been okay?
"Sure Will Do won on the same day as Kharisma (Class 4 race over 1100m on April 4), and while we didn't toy with the idea of a run in the Lion City Cup until later, just like for Kharisma and his (Indonesian) owner Untung (Joesoef), the Chens (Sure Will Do's owners) were keen to have a go in a big race.
"They have invested a lot in quality and this particular horse (Sure Will Do) who cost NZ$210,000 as a yearling more than deserves to have a shot, that's what racing is all about, isn't it?
"Those two horses are the youth coming through, and the owners want their horses to run. I was forced to have a crack, throw the dice because we had no other option, no handicap races for them.
"A handicap race worth $120,000 and a trophy would have been perfect for them."
Gray certainly will not sneeze at the extra $180,000 should either horse turn giant-killers on Saturday, even if he was privileged enough to have won the last two editions worth $1 million with Singapore champion sprinter Lim's Cruiser in 2017 and 2018.
It's pegging those vintage crops as benchmarks that gives him a glimmer of hope for a third hurrah.
"It's a big ask, but my horses are the youth of the race, and I've seen a lot better Lion City Cups. This year's not a strong race," said Gray.
"But you can't really compare. When I won with Lim's Cruiser, I was extremely confident, and the races were a lot more competitive then.
"Like I said, there was no other option to a poor programme. Is this the wrong thing to do? Probably is, but we had to have a crack."
