Cat Amongst Pigeons

The Singapore Turf Club reports:

The inclusion of former juvenile champion and current three-year-old star War Affair has set the cat among the pigeons in the $500,000 Group 1 Raffles Cup (1800m) this Sunday.

From the 10 nominations slated to contest the second Leg of the Singapore Triple Crown Series, the Mark Walker-trained class act is the only one who does not fit in either of the two distinct categories of usual suspects.

In one corner, there are the first-Leg (Panasonic Kranji Mile) runners going for their rematch in Round Two, namely Cash Luck (winner), City Lad, Stepitup, Super Ninetyseven, Flying Fulton and Nandowra, and in the other, those who eschewed the first Leg in favour of the longer distances of the last two Legs, especially the ultimate prize, the $1.35 million Group 1 Longines Singapore Gold Cup (2200m) on November 17 - Street Legal, Wild Geese and Born To Fly.

War Affair adds an element of intrigue to the Group 1 Raffles Cup this Sunday.

Age is the other element of surprise and intrigue as no three-year-old has ever won the feature race since its inception in 1991, even if it is a Weight-for-Age race open to three-year-olds and upwards. As such, the New Zealand-bred son of O'Reilly (selected and bought by David Ellis) will carry the postage-stamp weight of 49kgs, in receipt of as much as nine kilos from his older rivals, with only four-year-old arch-rivals Steptitup and Super Ninetyseven conceding him eight kilos.

A few eyebrows were raised when Walker declared the Raffles Cup as War Affair's next target shortly after he made a clean sweep of the More Magic 3YO Championship in the Group 3 Magic Millions 2013 More Magic 3YO Championship (1600m) less than two weeks ago.

Conventional wisdom would normally suggest a well-earned break for a horse who has been submitted to such an arduous campaign at such a young age, only to be brought back for a tilt towards the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge next year.

But Walker took a leaf from the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m), which incidentally will be run this Saturday at Moonee Valley, Melbourne, in his decision to go against the grain. Some three-year-olds who dared contest the race considered as the Weight-for-Age championship of Australasia and won, include the likes of So You Think (2009), Savabeel (2004) and the mighty Octagonal (1995).

“If he was in Melbourne, it would have been a natural step-up for him to head towards the Cox Plate,” said the Kiwi trainer, who saddled Princess Coup (then a 5YO) to a ninth place in the A$3 million race in 2008.

“His lead-up races have been no different here. He is clearly the best three-year-old here and he deserves his chance.

“There was such a long break until the 3YO Challenge next March, and I thought why not have one last throw of the dice with him.

“I am not worried about the two races being only two weeks apart. I discussed with the owners (Warplan Racing Stable) and they were quite happy to go for it.

“We will be guided by what he does, and it would also be nice if I could win my first Group 1 here.”

The five-time New Zealand champion trainer is a multiple-Group 1 winner back home, but a Singapore Group 1 win has eluded him thus far, though he does have one Group 2 win and six Group 3 wins to his credit.

He said he started toying with the idea of a start in the Raffles Cup for War Affair after the exciting youngster kept rising to the top to bring up an outstanding record of six wins from seven starts at Kranji.

“I always thought the Raffles Cup would be a good race for him. I've trained some very good three-year-olds at home, and he's certainly one of them,” said Walker who has fielded a runner in the Group 1 race every year since his Singapore debut in 2010, with his best result being a fourth place in 2011 by Flying Fulton, who will incidentally be his second Raffles Cup runner this year.

“The fact it is a weight-for-age race and he is getting such a significant allowance was also a big factor.

“The 1800m is not an issue, but he is taking on older horses, which certainly makes the race interesting.

“I can't fault his condition. He pulled up great after his last race and he's fit and well.

“He will work on Track 3 tomorrow with Barend (Vorster) tomorrow (Wednesday).”

With regular partner Joao Moreira now plying his trade in Hong Kong, Vorster was the one who got the nod for the plum ride, largely thanks to the South African senior jockey's ability to ride light.

“After Joao left, the owners decided to go for Barend. He said he will be able to ride him at 49kgs,” said Walker.

“There are some very good horses in the race. It will be interesting to see if War Affair's form will stack up, but I'll be guided by Laurie Laxon.

“He thought his three-year-old Daniel was a very good horse, and War Affair beat him at his last start. I think I'll take a line through Laurie's opinion as he's a champion trainer and he knows his horses.

“Regardless of how my horse runs, he is not going for the Gold Cup as the 1800m is tops for him at this stage. I will then give him a six-week break at the stables and bring him back for the first Leg of the 3YO Challenge in March.”

The Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge kicks off with the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) on March 30, 2014. This year's edition was captured by Stepitup on his way to winning all three Legs, and who will now be one of War Affair's rivals this Sunday.​