A La Victory has returned to racing a more complete performer having posted the most emphatic win of his career at Singapore’s Kranji racecourse yesterday.
The strapping gelding turned the 1400m Class 3 event into his own when exploding off a strong pace to win as he liked. It was the gelding’s fifth win in only 10 career starts an lifted his earnings to $S260,000.
“It is very rewarding to see A La Victory so dominant in his first run since the G1 Singapore Guineas,” said Eden Harrington, General Manager for the China Horse Club.
“Michael [Freedman], James [Peters] and the team have continued to do a wonderful with him and he looks to have returned a more complete racehorse. The improvement in A La Victory has been ongoing for most of the year and hopefully there is more in store with him. We believe he will be even better with time and as he gets over more ground and that is very rewarding for our owners and our club.”
A La Victory has not been seen since taking his place in the G1 Singapore Guineas in May. The step up to one of Singapore’s feature events was earned off the back of successive wins over 1200m and 1400m.
Jockey Corey Brown felt the Guineas may have arrived a preparation too early for A La Victory and that his mount was still a work in progress, albeit an exciting one.
That assessment was franked in no uncertain terms yesterday. The Freedman trained gelding was caught wide and well back in the field from barrier 10 in the 12 strong field but enjoyed the frenetic pace being set by Golden Mission during the middle stage. Brown allowed A La Victory to find his feet and didn’t panic despite being some 10 to 12 lengths off the leader at the 600m mark.
Race favourite Lim’s Rally moved first in the straight with jockey Syafiq Hazman letting him loose at the 300m mark but Brown quickly angled A La Victory to the centre of the track and the son of Alamosa showed a lethal turn of foot to put the race to bed in a matter of strides. Such was the closing speed of A La Victory inside the final 100m that the Australian rider has the luxury of easing him down and still scoring by two and three quarter lengths.
“The penny’s dropped for him,” Brown to the Singapore Turf Club post-race. “I was fractionally disappointed in him at the (Singapore) Guineas, which I felt came a little too early for him. He was still a tad immature then.
“The wide draw today was a problem and on paper, the race had no speed. We were not keen to go in front unless he jumps a length ahead of everyone else. Fortunately, the pace was quick enough for him to get into gear.
“He has matured quite a bit after the break that Michael gave him and he has shown how good a horse he really is.”
If you would like to learn more about the China Horse Club exclusive membership offer, please contact Mr. Eden Harrington or Ms. Fu Peipei. We look forward to hearing from you.
Mr. Eden HARRINGTON eden@chinahorseclub.com (Hp no : +65 93769968)
Ms. FU Peipei peipei@chinahorseclub.com (Hp no : +86 18600929029)