Two Te Akau Singapore Friday Wins

Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker continued his stranglehold on the Singapore Trainers' Premiership with yet another double header of wins on Friday night - this time honours going the way of Eaton's Gold and Kam's Comet.

It is a rare indeed where we do not celebrate yet another of our Singapore team saluting the judge and these two did so in consummate style!

Eaton's Gold was purchased by David Ellis for Fortuna Thoroughbred Syndicators from the 2010 Karaka Select Sale for $72,500.  The now 6YO son of Jet Spur has required careful handling throughout his career and he couldn't thus be in better hands, than those of Mark and our Kranji team.

Resuming in a $60,000 Class 4 event, he added yet another win to the career tally of our top apprentice, and former Champion Apprentice, Shafiq Rusof.  It was a huge training feat after Eaton's Gold having had a year away from the track.  His win takes his tally to five in Singapore and this victory has seen his stakes pass the $250,000 mark.

The second of our winner's came with the very promising Kam's Comet in the $75,000 Novice 1200m with stablemate Brahms and Liszt filling third place - as the Singapore Turf Club reports:

Kam's Comet bounced back to the winner's circle when he breezed past his competition to post a comfortable win, his second from three starts, in the $75,000 Novice race (1200m) on Polytrack.

The three-year-old gelding scored on debut but ran unplaced next up, though he had excuses when he was checked at the 800m. The son of Danroad still remained a popular pick in spite of his last defeat as he was sent out as the $14 favourite and he certainly did not disappoint.

There was a moment of worry initially, when he could not get into the box-seat and had to travel three wide with no cover on the outside.

Kam's Comet (Manoel Nunes) pulling away from the pack as he sprints for home to claim Race 7 on Sunday.

But Manoel Nunes' ability made sure Kam's Comet would eventually be able to overcome the torrid trip and still chart a successful path to victory.

“Nunes rode him well today,” said Walker. “Kam's Comet is still new, still a little green. The way he ran tonight showed a little of his immaturity.

“We will be resting him after tonight's race. He has been doing a lot of work in the lead-up.”

Nunes echoed the New Zealand handler's sentiments on the readiness of the gelding.

“He's a lovely horse, a good ride,” said the Brazilian jockey.

“We got into a little bit of trouble at the 700m mark where he got checked. But he got his act together quickly and finished the race strong.

“Mark had decided early on to put the winkers on him and that really helped him concentrate.”

Tip Of Borneo (Rueven Ravindra) took the early initiative out of the gates, followed closely behind by Guilty Pleasures (John Powell) and Free Happy (Zawari Razali). Having jumped from an outside gate, Kam's Comet had to be content with running on the outside, but always seemed to be travelling on the bit.

The leaders kept the pace throughout leading to the home stretch, with Mr Fantastic (Barend Vorster) joining them as they straightened.

At the 300m mark, an opening presented itself to Kam's Comet when a wall of horses in front of him all rolled in, presenting a passage for him to make his move. At the sight of the opportunity, Kam's Comet produced a blistering turn of foot that saw him eating up the track to rocket towards the front, giving no quarters to his hapless rivals.

In the end, the New Zealand-bred took the race comfortably by a length and a quarter from Mr Fantastic with Brahms And Liszt (Shafiq Rizuan) third another half-a-length away.  The winning time was 1min 11.73secs.

That bit of burst in the final part of the race may give the impression that Kam's Comet could be destined for a longer journey, but opinions between the two men who know him best thus far were divided.

“We will keep him in the sprints for the near future,” mentioned the winning handler.

Nunes though, felt otherwise.

“We can probably try more ground for him later. He is a good Polytrack horse.”