Kam's Comet Rockets Home

The feature race in Singapore on Friday night delivered yet another win to Singapore's leading trainer, Te Akau Racing's Mark Walker ... the Singapore Turf Club reports on the Premiership leader's Friday success ...

Champion jockey Manoel Nunes was glad he took the ride aboard his “second choice” Kam's Comet in the $100,000 The AmCham Cup 2015, an Open Benchmark 89 race over 1100m.

The Brazilian immediately thought he would be the pick for Kiwi Karma the moment the handicaps were out on Monday but trainer Michael Clements was keen to shave off some kilos off the six-time winner, by using three-kilo claimer Kif Toh instead.

Nunes respected Clements' decision and straight away put his hand up for the ride on Kam's Comet, another horse he knows well for having partnered the Dutch-owned gelding at all his four wins.

Kam's Comet (Manoel Nunes) kicks clear for an impressive win in Race 7

As it turned out, Kam's Comet ($18) enjoyed a dream run on the fence while Kiwi Karma knuckled badly at the start and was in big trouble from there on in.

Nunes bided his time until the field straightened up when he took the shortest path to the winning post, and Kam's Comet just bounded away to a most impressive 2 ½ length win from Mycaptainoblivious (John Powell) with Secret Mission (Koh Teck Huat) third another half-a-length away.

Kiwi Karma, who was resuming from a four-month break, did raise some hopes in her camp when she came within a couple of lengths of the leading bunch inside the last furlong, but the awkward jump coupled with lack of race fitness took its toll on her as she could only plod in fourth place another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 4.82secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.

“I wanted to ride Kiwi Karma but Mike thought she had too much weight on her back and booked Kif instead. I got on Kam's Comet instead and it's worked out good,” said Nunes.

“I was laughing when both Kiwi Karma and Southern Boss missed their starts. I got a lovely trail behind JP's (Powell) horse and he lengthened really good in the end.

“He had a light weight on his back and he is really quick. This is a very serious racehorse.”

Owned by Mari van der Kam, Kam's Comet, a four-year-old by Danroad has now brought up his record to five wins from nine starts for prizemoney in excess of $230,000.

Trainer Mark Walker, who is now only a few meetings from clinching his first Singapore title having now extended his lead to 11 wins (77 versus Michael Freedman's and Alwin Tan's 66), was bowled over by Kam's Comet's resounding success.

“Those small races can be funny at times, but it panned out well for him,” said the former five-time New Zealand champion trainer.

“Nunes got the drop on them and he quickened up really good. He's a typical New Zealander who keeps improving and may become a Class 1 horse next year.”