3 minute read
Lim’s Lightning etched his name in Singapore racing lore in gold after he became the first horse to ever win the Lion City Cup-Singapore Gold Cup double on Sunday – and stamp himself outright as one of the most popular fairytale horses in recent times.
Such a unique exploit is considered extremely rare in any racing jurisdiction given sprint and staying features are poles apart in terms of equine prowess, but trainer Daniel Meagher's superstar has set the amazing precedent in the 48 years the two races have co-existed at both the old Bukit Timah and Kranji racecourses.
The $1 million Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) boasts the richer history being three years shy of its 100th running while the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) is much younger since it was first run in 1974.
While history is nice to be part of, it wasn't quite racing immortality that had Meagher, a noted "crier" (remember his teary-eyed post-win speech after he landed his first Group 1 win with the same Lim's Lightning in the Lion City Cup) like Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Chris Waller, choking back tears post-race, even sans the usual crowds due to these pandemic times.
Yes, the Lope De Vega six-year-old has taken Meagher on a magic carpet ride by taking all before him at that totally unheralded meteoric rise from an obscure 'midlife crisis' in Australia (one win in Werribee from eight starts) that eclipsed his early shine as a juvenile at Kranji to sweeping six wins from seven starts (only defeat came in the Kranji Mile when second to Minister), including three at Group 1 level, and getting minted in solid gold on Sunday.
But it's also been a heck of a rollercoaster ride after Lim's Lightning bruised his shoulder in a fall during a routine afternoon walk and was scratched the same week from the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m) a month ago.
It was a crucial stepping stone that would have provided some answers if he was to press on towards the Singapore Gold Cup.
From the way he brained his rivals in the Group 1 Raffles Cup (1600m) four weeks earlier, most, including Meagher, thought he should breeze through the extra furlong.
But nothing beats cold hard evidence, and all were none the wiser after the no-go and injury. Against all odds, Meagher took a leap of faith by pressing on towards the gold pot.
No doubt Lim's Lightning has always delivered whenever the bar is raised, but his prodigious Sunday victorious march where he practically made all in a handicap race giving weight all round with his 58kgs top impost, and was dipping his toe in 1 ¼ mile waters for the very first time, has exceeded all expectations.
The stakes were higher. It was make-or-break time, but Meagher took a calculated risk by ultimately throwing caution to the wind, and that was why that resounding sixth win at that second lease of life was even more special to the young Australian handler.
"I'm running out of superlatives for him. After the setback, I sat down with Danny (Beasley) and (racing manager) Mick (Dittman) to put a plan together to train him to go there (Gold Cup)," said Meagher.
"They told me if you can get there, great, but if I had any doubt, to just not run him.
"But he's ticked all the boxes and has been working very well, and this is the result today.
"To win the Lion City Cup at the start of the year and winning the Gold Cup now is very special. I think it's the first time a horse has done that (ed's note, it's correct).
"To win it for Mr Lim (Siah Mong), I get all very emotional thinking about it, thinking about the horse. It's the horse who did it.
"It's been 57 days between runs, 30 days after the setback during which he had only two gallops and a trial to bring him back.
"To do that, I didn't want to play catch-up. I just wanted to keep him to the same routine.
"Danny galloped him and trialled him, and he told me he's the best he's ever worked and trialled.
"Danny is not only my former assistant-trainer, but he's been my best mate for 15 years. We go beyond a trainer and jockey relationship, and for us to win the Gold Cup as a team means the bloody world to me."
The youngest son of Australian Hall of Fame trainer and former Kranji great John Meagher was also following into his famous father's footsteps. Kim Angel won the then 2,200m-run handicap at their very first year of relocation in 2000 when Meagher was only 17.
The enormity of the occasion was a struggle to take in, especially as his father has not been in the pink of health of late, but Meagher was trying his best to imagine the vibes at the Meagher home in Mornington.
"I hope my father was able to see the win 'live' on TV, and it registered with him. I hope he will treasure it as it means a lot to me," said Meagher.
"It brings tears to my eyes to have won the race my father also won 21 years ago. It's for my family and I'll never forget it.
"Mum said he was able to watch the race and even let out a "yes" when Lim's Lightning won, but he then went back to reading a book!
"It's okay, I'll be able to see him next month when I go back home during the racing break."
No doubt the replays of the 2001 and 2021 Singapore Gold Cups will be given plenty of runs and maybe even notes (given Meagher Sr along with elder brother Chris trained Lim's Lightning during his short Australian stay) will be traded when the two Singapore Gold Cup-winning Meaghers reunite on the peninsula.
They will marvel how the 'ugly duckling' who wouldn't even have a saddle put on him at one stage had transformed into a 'beautiful swan', and become almost bombproof i.e not even an interrupted prep could throw him off.
But racing can be swings and roundabouts at times. Many a time, horses have won the first two Legs of the Singapore Triple Crown series (Raffles Cup and QEII Cup previously), but stumbled at the third and harshest Leg, the Singapore Gold Cup.
It's a case for conjecture, but skipping the middle pin might have helped Lim's Lightning regroup and come back fresher and definitely fitter for the 2000m test.
"He's come a long way from being a well-known difficult horse to what he is today, but I still had massive doubts because of the 57 days rest, the 58kgs, the 2000m and he was lame a month ago," said Meagher, who is not one to shun the path less trodden, but neither is he a daredevil.
"But looking back now, missing the QEII Cup could have been a blessing in disguise. While disappointed he didn't run, everything happens for a reason and maybe it was meant to be.
"Maybe if he had run the QEII Cup and won, I would have said 'job well done' and given him a break, I don't know, but what matters today is it's turned out our way."
The frontrunning tactics after exiting the machine from gate No 9 were certainly a plan Meagher and Beasley had devised and fell into place - even if longshot Elite Incredible (John Sundradas) whipping around to come eyeballing the $14 favourite from the halfway mark did set the cat among the pigeons.
When second favourite Hard Too Think (Marc Lerner), who had five kilos less on his back, also descended from the 800m to draw on level terms homeward-bound, and laid down the law by even heading him 300m out, Meagher must have thought his bold gamble was still worth its while as a second place would still make him proud.
But it was written that not even a bridesmaid tag had its place in Lim's Lightning's charmed life.
Under Beasley's renewed urgings, Lim's Lightning picked himself off the canvas to peg Stephen Gray's gutsy ward back and hit the line with three-quarter length to spare. Mr Malek (Wong Chin Chuen), who had been losing his way a little in the lead-up, suddenly showed plenty of cheek when he sprang into the hunt from the 400m, but in the end claimed third place a similar margin away.
"With 53kgs on his back, Marc rode Hard Too Think really well," said Meagher.
"There was a question mark when they came up as my horse had been under pressure the whole way and never got any rest.
"But he was ready to fight on rather than to be beaten. He didn't lie down and is as tough as they come.
"It was an amazing effort and an amazing ride."
QEII Cup runner-up Katak with pinch-hitter Zyrul Nor Azman replacing the indisposed Matthew Kellady, and who came under an injury cloud on Cup eve but was luckily cleared to run on Sunday, had a dream run hugging the rails in the box seat, but barely took any ground off the winner to settle for fourth place another half-length away.
Comeback Singapore champion jockey Manoel Nunes tried the shortest way home aboard title defender Big Hearted, but the finish lacked last year's punch, especially on top of the ground as they ran sixth, but as predicted by trainer Michael Clements, at least he was the first across the line among his seven-strong armada.
Lim's Lightning oozed class in the delivery, which was not quite mirrored in the chronometric area with a moderate 2min 2.05secs, more than three seconds outside the record, but Beasley said what was imperative to him in his flight plan was to "take control" from the outset.
"I wanted to be in control of my destiny," said the Australian jockey who has made his own remarkable riding comeback from a self-enforced four-year hiatus by currently leading the senior jockeys' log.
"I wanted to be in a position to get him to run 2000m, and it's worked out perfectly until S John on Elite Incredible came alongside and kept me honest.
"But my horse worked with me beautifully. Past the 1400m, he changed his lead and relaxed under me, and I thought 'we're really in business now'.
"He was doing whatever I wanted him to do, and when Marc joined us on the turn, I still had a little left in the tank.
"We were on the ropes, but at the 200m, he changed his lead again, and that's when Hard Too Think bumped us. I wanted to change the whip to the left hand and I thought he'd find.
"But I gave him a couple of right handers and he picked up again. In the last couple of strides, I knew we had the race won.
"It's a special win as I've never won the Gold Cup before, and to do it with Dan, it means so much to me.
"Credit to Dan for getting him right after his comeback from Australia where he didn't do so well, but credit to just the horse himself.
"The way he has turned around especially in the last 1 ½ months, after his well-documented setback before the QEII Cup, to get him fit and ready again was really special.
"Johnny Meagher will be really proud of his son."
Speaking of racing generations, the two Dan's happen to have broods of their own who may well take over their mantle one day.
"My kids are much older now, and I can't wait to go home to celebrate with them," said Beasley who has remarried to a Singaporean.
"Even my wife Ash, who is a housewife and is not a racing person at all, will always greet me with a 'job well done' when I get home even if I rode one Class 5 winner.
"My eldest son in Australia is 18 and he loves his racing while my other son here in Singapore, Mikayl, he's 10, and he already reads the form guide back to front!
"I have two girls, Phoenix, 8 and Sonique who's the last born and only two, but I reckon she's the one who could become a jockey as she's the one with the smallest build, but she's really hyper."
Meagher, who also has two children around the same age from his ex-jockey wife Sabrina, Caiden, 6, and Harper Rose, 3, can relate to Beasley's racing genes running in the family.
"Caiden has got the racing bug like me, I think I'm in big trouble with this one. And Harper is only three, but she's the one who rides the couch," he said.
"Sabrina told me they went mad watching the race on TV at home. Danny's kids are the same!
"Here I also have to thank my wife Sabrina for her support. She's been the force behind me at home.
"And how not to mention my track rider Fahmi? He rides Lim's Lightning every single day and cops the pressure every single day.
"Poor Fahmi when he cops a spray from me, but I also give him a pat on the back! A big thank you to the whole staff as this is a win for them and all their hard work.
"Last but not least, a special mention to the Singapore Turf Club. They are the people who gave me a licence and let me continue my father's legacy."
As the stable doors close and Meagher gets to sit back and gaze at every intricate detail of the Singapore Gold Cup trophy sitting on his sideboard, he will have some time to think where else the magic carpet ride can go...
"Dubai and Saudi Arabia look enticing," said Meagher, who around '1001 nights' ago, did jet to Dubai as his father's travelling lad to Lim's Grand.
"Hong Kong was never on the cards as they go the other direction. In Brisbane, he trained that way and didn't go well even if it's a competitive jurisdiction.
"I don't want to change the way of going for him as he's very finnicky and I don't want to change too much."
What has instead changed a lot in the last seven months is the Lim's Stable's bank account. From returning from Australia with around $400,000 in stakes earnings from his previous five wins (including the Werribee win), Lim's Lightning has multiplied that fourfold to $1.63 million in the wake of his Singapore Gold Cup heroics.
Incidentally, the vote for the 2021 Singapore Horse of the Year award will still go to the ballots, but you won't need a crystal ball to see a mini lightning bolt flashing across.
