Om-inous

He may have one of the shortest names a thoroughbred has ever been given, but OM certainly looks to have a much longer future at Kranji after he came from near last to record a sterling win in the $75,000 Jolie's Shinju Stakes Class 3 race over 1400m on Sunday.

After getting his Kranji racing career to an auspicious start with two seconds, the Darci Brahma three-year-old then hit a flat spot and actually had to wait until his fifth start before opening his account.

But it has been onwards and upwards since, regardless of his unplaced effort in a Novice race (1200m) on Singapore Airlines International Cup night when he did not enjoy a smooth run throughout.

Settled at the rear by jockey Joao Moreira, OM looked the part when he was peeled out the widest for his run at the top of the straight.   Race-leader Klever Man (Corey Brown) and Full Toss (Noh Senari) were locked in a ding-dong battle upfront, but OM packed too many guns for them when he finished over the top of them to get up by a neck from Full Toss, who edged Klever Man for second by a head. The winning time was 1min 22.88secs.

Trainer Mark Walker, who also trained New Zealand champion sire and champion galloper Darci Brahma, could not have sent a more ominous warning when he said OM was still six months away from his best.

“I think he's still physically not quite there yet,” said the current leading trainer on the Singapore log (40 wins).

“No doubt he's got stronger and has really come through only recently, but the penny has not dropped completely. He will be an even better horse in six months and is definitely a nice horse in the making.  I know a fair bit about Darci Brahma as I trained him myself. Though he's not won beyond 1600m himself, his progeny are versatile as they can sprint and win has won up to 2400m.

“Actually, he is still eligible for Class 4 races and I was considering running him in such a race, but then he would have carried 58kg.  I thought this race would be better as he would only have to carry minimum weight. It proved to be a good move.”

Moreira, who was in white-hot form having brought up his fifth winner for the day, having earlier scored aboard Sweet Lodge, Caruso, Drumsara and of course Super Easy in the Group 1 Patron's Bowl, said OM had a promising future lying ahead.

“This horse has improved a lot, even if he's still a bit green. As you could see, he was hanging in in the concluding stages,” said Moreira.

“I was very happy with the way he still won even after they made it so hard for us when they went so fast in the early stages.   He also clocked a very good time, which makes you wonder how much more improvement there is, given that he is still very immature.”

Moreira said he was not all that concerned when he was still standing about six lengths to the leaders upon cornering.

“If you look at today's races, 99.9% of the time it's the horses who came from behind who won. I was not worried at all as I knew he also had a light weight (51kg).  Whether it was good enough for him to get up on time I wasn't sure, but he's done it in great style.”

OM, which is a Hindu mantra, races in the colours of famous New Zealand entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn, who was born in India.

Story - Singapore Turf Club

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