Pat Shaw – get well soon
Pat Shaw is recovering from surgery after a procedure. I have been in touch with him and he is making progress. I wish him well and we hope he returns to the track sooner rather than later as he really does inject a great sense of humour to work in the mornings, writes Gareth Pepper.
Pat’s talented 3yo Elusive Emperor also showed how classy he is by winning his third race from four outings – his only blot on the copybook came courtesy of an incident filled second racecourse appearance and a line must be drawn through that run.
He won with authority on Sunday and joins the Guineas puzzle as a likely contender.
Rocket Visit
With Pat recuperating, I paid a visit to long-time assistants Ricardo Le Grange and Jacci De Tert at the yard on Monday.
Rocket Man
I was privileged to spend some time with their Champion Rocket Man.
Owned by Fred Crabbia, the world class sprinter is in phenomenal condition.
He looked like an oil painting and it was just so awesome to spend time chatting to both Ricardo and Jacci and listening to them speak so fondly of , by their own admission, the best horse they have and probably will ever work with.
Jacci travelled to Japan, Hong Kong and Dubai with the champ and listening to her recount tales of his personality traits and general awesomeness made my day!
His plans? Well it’s hard to say according to the yard, but he is very well and no matter what, he will be fondly remembered for many a year as a very special individual.
Jimmy’s Back
This past weekend saw some competitve racing and it was bolstered by several 3yo’s out to prepare and test the waters ahead of next Fridays Guineas.
Friday saw the return of high class Jimmy Rea.
Although only a 1200m contest, the talented New Zealand bred gave the leaders a couple of lengths and was pulled out wide by regular pilot Manoel Nunes rounding the turn.
He accelerated with effortless ease and won as he liked by 2,3 lengths. all going well, he should take his place in the final field as well as stable mate Chase who was unlucky later in the day.
Chase was beaten by A La Victory, who made it 4 wins from 8 runs and he too showed class and courage to win the penultimate race of the afternoon. Ridden by Corey Brown, you could almost sense the excitement as the pair returned to the winners enclosure and he too should take his place in the field adding another runner to the list of candidates for trainer Michael Freedman.
Freedman Rules
On Sunday it was Freedman again who saddled Mighty Warrior in the tenth race to win his third race from four outings.
He too is on the up and when I asked Corey Brown about him and his stable mate who won on Friday, he was quick to add that both were quality individuals – and perhaps both would and should take their place in the Guineas.
Next Friday’s S$500 000 Gr1 Guineas looks to be another high class race and Affleck and Spanish Bay may just have their hands full with the other progressive 3yo’S that made their presence felt this weekend.
Getting back to the Guineas, it has the makings of one of the best races of the season and I would highly recommend that viewers back home tune in for the main event.
This weekend we have racing on Friday evening only as we prepare for next weekend’s big day here.
I will be penning a detailed report on the main contenders and events in the build up to the SIA Cup as well as the Krisflyer Sprint.
Till next time.
