There are now only six racemeetings left until the curtain comes down on Singapore racing forever.
It was announced in June 2023 that the final race meeting will be held on 5 October 2024, before the curtain comes down on the sport’s 180 year history in the Lion City and the land is handed back to the government in 2027
At Kranji on Sunday, Pacific Vampire showed his best was easily good enough at the top level after he won in a relative canter in the SG$100,000 Kranji Stakes A race over 1200m.
Pacific Vampire (Bruno Queiroz) clears out for a comfortable win in the Kranji Stakes A race (Pic – STC)
In a small but elite field of five that included this year’s Gr1 Lion City Cup (1200m) second and favourite Ghalib, as well as Gr2 Singapore Guineas winner Ace Of Diamonds, Pacific Vampire (Bruno Queiroz) was also well in the betting and led as expected.
Meanwhile, Ghalib (Manoel Nunes) was well-positioned on the outside of Ace Of Diamonds (Wong Chin Chuen) and both of them kept the leader in their sights.
As the field straightened for home, Pacific Vampire was cruising and had an ominous three-length lead. That gap widened with little effort by Queiroz at the 300m, so connections and punters had an easy watch over the final furlong as the five-year-old son of Impending eased down late for the easiest of wins.
Ghalib ran on well late with his top impost of 58kgs, but still finished two-and-a-quarter-lengths back in second. Ace Of Diamonds ran another one-and-a-quarter lengths back in third.
The winning time was 1 min 11.28secs for the 1200m on the Polytrack. Pacific Vampire’s fourth win from nine starts in Singapore took his prizemoney to over SG$180,000 for the Pacific Stable.
When asked by The Straits Times’ racing journalist Michael Lee about his confidence of back-to-back wins, trainer Jason Ong thought Pacific Vampire could step up in Class with the Polytrack a factor.
“The opposition was tougher today, but I think we are definitely a lot more comfortable on the Poly(track) with him,” said Ong, who took the training honours after winning half of the races on the 10-race meeting. Lucky Hero, Free And Happy, The Wild Fire, and Surrey Hills were four others that saluted.
“He is a lot more genuine and comfortable travelling on the Polytrack.
“As I said previously, it took a while to get him to stay but now, we think he is just a sprinter and we don’t really want to take that speed out of him.
“So we got it right in the way we condition him. He had a really good prep.
“We got a good draw, and I knew we would get a soft lead, although we also thought (jockey) Krisna (Thangamani) would keep us honest on Asif.
“But because we had him right, he didn’t stop like he usually did. He kept on going and it was nice to see that.
“Moving forward, there is a good sprinting race on (Group 1) (Grand Singapore) Gold Cup Day (5 October) and maybe one more (race) before that.”
Queiroz was also confident of a good showing but was surprised by the ease of the win at this level.
“He’s (Pacific Vampire) a lovely horse but I was surprised to see how easily he won against some very good horses,” said the Brazilian hoop, who now leads the jockeys’ premiership on 52 wins.
“But the horse jumped very well and with 52.5kgs, I was happy to go to the front and give horses like Ghalib with weight something to catch.
“Earlier in the race, my horse gave me a very good feeling, so I kept the pace on into the straight.
“I was surprised I had a good gap on Ghalib at the 300m and just kept my horse going without too much pressure.
“By the 200m, I had won the race and took it easy. Again, I was surprised by how good my horse won.
“Jason and his team have done a great job. They did things differently with this horse and you can see today how things have improved again.
“I have to thank Jason and also the owners for supporting me.”
