Te Akau Singapore Winning Double
14 January, 2017
Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker continued his superb start to the new season, training a winning double at Kranji on Friday evening. The new season, which kicked off on 1 January has seen Mark now record six wins, and the team is on fire! The Singapore Turf Club reported on the first winner - Mighty Conqueror and then read about Viviano winning the Friday feature:
Progressive sort Mighty Conqueror staved off his rivals with ease to go and score a strong win in the $60,000 Class 4 race over 1000m on Friday night.
The Patapan four-year-old was resuming after showing handy form with two wins and two thirds from four starts all run over 1200m last year.
From a good gate in three and with champion jockey Azhar Ismail in the irons, he was always going to get solid support, and the second favourite ($17) certainly did not disappoint when he beat off challenges to relegate Effortless (John Powell) to second place 1 ¾ lengths away with stablemate Champagne Rein (Gerald Mosse) third another three parts of a length away.
Mighty Conqueror is launched by Azhar Ismail for his run
Mighty Conqueror jumped fairly and looked like he would take a sit behind favourite Elite Takes All (Vlad Duric) but with the latter not pressing forward, Azhar decided to take matters in his hands and dictate instead. The Malaysian veteran jockey explained that, to him, was the winning move.
“I thought No 5 (Elite Takes All) would lead from his inside gate, but he was not that fast,†said Malaysia's multiple-champion jockey.
“That's why I just let my horse roll along. I just gave him a breather midrace and when I asked him to go in the straight, he responded very well. I know this horse well and I had plenty of horse underneath me when we came into the straight. He's come back very good after the spell.â€
Walker concurred with the rider about the Synthetic Stable-owned galloper having improved on his physique after the break, but cautioned he still has a few kinks to be ironed out.
“We gave him a nice break and he's come back stronger. The only thing about him is I wished he relaxed in his run,†said the New Zealander.
“That will be even more so as he goes up in grade as they go quicker. He can get on the bridle a fair bit.â€
Mighty Conqueror has now pushed his takings past the $110,000 mark for the Malaysian-based Synthetic Stable, which is better known for racing another smart stablemate of Mighty Conqueror's, Hello Michelle.
and Mark's second winner was for the Raffles' Racing team ... Viviano ...
South African jockey Derreck David bounced back to the winner's enclosure with a riding double aboard Roan Ranger and Viviano on Friday night.
David, who missed two days of racing (January 2 and 6) through a careless riding charge, was delighted with the brace, but also with the way he has been performing in general despite going through 15 rides without hitting the line first. The lightweight rider had five seconds and one third to show for before the Sonny Yeoh-trained Roan Ranger ($21) opened his account, both for David and himself (at start No 23) in the $35,000 Class 5 race over 1400m.
Viviano (Derreck David) bursts through the pack to take out Race 7
David then rode a good third aboard $83 outsider Gold Customer in the next race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1600m, which was taken out by Gold Customer's stablemate General Conatus (Amirul Ismadi) before he went for seconds in the next event.
Riding lukewarm $34 chance Viviano for trainer Mark Walker in the $100,000 Open Benchmark 89 race over 1200m, the 2015 Mauritius champion jockey showed great poise in the saddle as they sweated for a run upon straightening before punching through a providential gap at the 300m.
David even made a biblical reference in describing the lucky breaks he got aboard the Keeper five-year-old when all looked lost.
“It opened up like the Red Sea. Sometimes you sit behind waiting for an opening and you have nowhere to go,†said David who was the only rider at the double for the night.
“I wanted to go to the outside down the back when MM (Firdaus) went around horses (on Mr Fantastic), but I decided to go inside. When he saw daylight, he really quickened away. I did not expect him to win in this company. But the trainer told me he had been unlucky at his last two starts. The way he turned it on tonight was not expected at all.â€
Walker said the Raffles Racing Stable-owned sprinter has not been having much luck of late, and was indeed pleased he had been able to showcase his true ability on Friday night.
“He's a horse who keeps improving, but at his last run, Alan Munro said an apprentice annoyed him the whole way,†said Walker.
“He hasn't had much luck lately and it was great to get a win for Raffles Racing, who has been supporting me for a while now. He's won over 1400m before and I will probably keep him to the 1200m-1400m distances.â€
With that sixth win, Viviano saw his bank account swell by another $55,000 to around $280,000 for the Raffles Racing Stable of Dato Yap Kin San.