Four Strikes - Not Out

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker remained in winning form on Friday night at Kranji.  His unbeaten 3YO My Lucky Strike was up in grade and made it a two length walk in the park to be four wins from four starts - the Singapore Turf Club reports:

Friday night's racing action at Kranji saw a slew of sterling performances play out on the track, but the highlight had to be emerging three-year-old My Lucky Strike's four-from-four in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1100m.

Trainer Mark Walker's new revelation was coming off an unbeaten run of three wins all recorded over 1000m, and the extra 100m was certainly no hurdle to the speedster as he bolted away in equally impressive fashion to score by a widening margin.

Ridden by his last-start winning partner Manoel Nunes, the son of Charge Forward, who was punted down to solid $12 favouritism, had an ideal run buried away on the rails behind the speed battle hammered out among a trio of horses made up of Exceed Express (Craig Newitt), Gato Negro (Oscar Chavez) and Lively Dragon (Mohd Zaki).

Sweating on a gap to present itself at the top of the straight, Nunes needed no second invitation as the race went to script inside the last 300m.

With the field fanning out across the track, My Lucky Strike dove straight for the saloon passage along the rails and the only issue left to sort out at the 200m as he scooted clear was who would win the battle for the minors. Longshot Coronet Peak (Barend Vorster) was the one who flew home to clinch that prize with Bellwether (Corey Brown) third another length away.

Raced by the Lucky Stable, My Lucky Strike stopped the clock at a quick 1min 4.54secs, only 0.27 second outside the record established by Easy Man two years ago.

Walker, who just returned from the Karaka Yearling Sale in New Zealand, was indeed one man feeling lucky to have such an exciting prospect in his stable.

“He's such a professional racehorse. He's also a very unassuming sort of horse who goes about his business quietly,” said Walker, the current leader on the Singapore trainer's premiership on 11 winners.

“We've raised the bar with him and he's answered very well each and every time. He'll probably run in the first Leg of the 3YO series.”

The Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge kicks off with the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) on March 29 and wraps up with the Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) on May 15.

Walker did not fail to pay huge compliments to the winning connections whose My Lucky Strike is evidently their stable star, but who also has other handy horses in their grade, such as Smileswithhiseyes and Prince Mag.

“It's good to get another winner for Mr Robert Ng who is building a good team of horses,” said Walker.

“Their racing manager Richard See is also good to deal with as he lets us place their horses where we want. I think they will be a major force in Singapore very soon.”

Nunes said My Lucky Strike was a sit-and-steer job once again and at no time did he have any anxious moments.

“He's got the speed and he can sit and relax. Once you let him go, it's game over,” summed up the Brazilian jockey who was at a riding double, having earlier scored aboard Visit An Au to bring his score to 23 winners, almost double that of the next best, Michael Rodd on 11 winners.

“He had a lovely run right through and all I had to do was follow the other horses. They went fast, but I didn't panic as I knew what I had under my knees.

“Once he found the gap at the top of the straight, he was never in doubt. I think at this stage it's hard to tell if he can get over more ground - just wait and see first.”

While the future looks exciting for My Lucky Strike, Nunes looks set to have a happy headache in the coming weeks. Besides My Lucky Strike, a long list of fast three-year-olds roll off from his regular book of rides - stablemate Jimmy Rea, Rathausglockel, Titanium and there could be more.

“Yes, we have a very good crop of three-year-olds this year and I'm lucky to be the rider of a few of them. I can't ride them all in one race unfortunately, but time will tell,” he said.

With that fourth win from as many starts, My Lucky Strike has now brought his stakes' earnings past the $150,000 mark for his indeed Lucky owners.