Alpha Centauri Shines Bright

It was a fabulous winning weekend for Te Akau Racing Singapore with trainer Mark Walker seeing two of his charges - Zac Gallant and Kam's Comet - saluting the judge on Friday night.

However the winning was not about to stop there - on Sunday it was the turn of Keeper 5YO Alpha Centauri to cap off his recent outstanding place form with a courageous win in the S$80,000 Any Humour 2009 Class 3 Stakes over 1600m on the polytrack - ridden to pinpoint perfection by Singapore champion rider Manuel Nunes.

One of many stable runners to draw wide over the weekend, it was the patience and expertise of Nunes that saw him settle "Ricardo" (as Alpha Centauri is known) in ninth position near the rear of the field.  Turning for home, as the question was asked of the handsome almost-black gelding, he responded in scintillating fashion, storming down the home straight to score by almost a length at the line.

Alpha Centauri was purchased by David Ellis for $60,000 from the Karaka Select Sale.  His team of owners, including Karyn, made the decision early to send him to our stable in Singapore and what a rewarding decision that has been.

Sunday was start 25 for the horse who won on debut back in November 2012 - that 1.5 length victory showed he was a horse ideally suited to Singapore conditions and so it has proven.  Things were almost de-railed however when "Ricardo" sustained a race day injury in September 2013 and was forced to have almost 12 months of rehabilitation.  He was back under Mark and the team's care in August 2014 and by February this year had returned to the winner's circle, after a series of placings.

Alpha Centauri's return to winning form is an absolute credit to Mark and our Singapore team.

The patience of his owners has certainly been returned by him in bucketloads - from 25 starts, he has now won five times, been runner up six times, finished third five times and fourth on three occasions - for stakes approaching $300,000.

The win of Alpha Centauri sees Mark Walker maintain his clear lead on the Singapore Trainers' Premiership with 53 training wins to his credit with seven months of the season complete.