Team Asogan ready to assert power at upcoming Ipoh races
With the races at the Perak Turf Club coming up on May 11, slow work on the Ipoh training track was the order of the day as trainers sought to add the finishing touches to their runners.
The hard stuff had been done - mostly on the morning of May 6.
But knowing that the runners needed a good stretch-out to keep their minds on the job ahead, the track was taken over by horses doing either serious cantering or some trotting on May 7 and 8.
Prominent among them were the runners from the stables of Asogan Thangaraju.
The Ipoh-based trainer cannot be faulted for a lack of effort. He has posted six wins from 62 starters for the 2025 season, and will saddle 10 racers this weekend.
Asogan and his staff were busy people on the morning of May 7 when most of his entries were put through their paces.
Two, in particular, caught the eye - A Better Tomorrow and A Beautiful Mind.
A Better Tomorrow is one of a quartet of runners from Asogan's barn who will face the starter in Race 3 - the Class 5 (A) race to be run over the 1,600m.
Formerly with English trainer James Peters in Singapore, but now with the Malaysian handler, the Awesome Rock five-year-old won a very competitive Open Maiden event by two lengths at Kranji on March 17, 2024.
He has since been winless - but, again, not from a lack of trying.
Indeed, his subsequent runs going back until June 16 produced three second-place finishes.
Sent over to Asogan's yard when racing ended at Kranji in October, he raced three times and his last-start third to Boss Heng Heng on March 30 would have had the Super Singh Stable hoping their runner had, at last, turned the corner.
They have every right to feel optimistic.
Until that run on March 30, A Better Tomorrow won a trial in a nice time of 1min 1sec.
His work leading up to the contest on May 11 has been decent and there is nothing to suggest that he is incapable of running a bold race.
Also previously prepared by Peters and raced by the same connections, A Beautiful Mind is a four-year-old whose recent form has not been shabby.
Much like A Better Tomorrow, he too was sent out for some light work on May 7 and 8 and, hopefully, he is now in a good frame of mind for that next assignment.
In his case, it will be in Race 1 on May 11, a Class 5B race over 1,600m, and up in the saddle he will again have regular partner Harmeet Singh Gill doing the steering.
The jockey knows him all too well, having ridden him in all his eight runs since being relocated to Ipoh, including his two victories.
The first was on Nov 13 when the Eminent four-year-old scored a stylish win over the Ipoh 1,400m.
Following two unplaced races in November and December, the pair returned and A Beautiful Mind opened his 2025 campaign with a neat win over the Ipoh 1,600m at Class 5B level on Jan 11..
What followed was a third placing on Feb 8.
He then ran a shocker of a race on March 2 - finishing last of 12.
A post-race veterinary inspection revealed "nothing abnormal".
A Beautiful Mind carried stable confidence at his last start on April 13 and finished a creditable third after being "awkwardly away" and bumped just after the start.
In the big race of the day, the RM100,000 (S$30,500) Perak Turf Club Community Shield (1,200m), pay special attention to Vincent's Star.
Undoubtedly the star in trainer Ismadi Ismail's yard, the four-year-old is gunning for a fifth success in a row and what will be his sixth career victory.
Well, he just might do it as Ismadi has been thorough in getting Vincent's Star buffed up and ready for the 1,200m sprint.
He sent his star out for a gallop on May 6.
Not out to break any record, he clocked a breezy 44sec for the 600m.
Then, on May 7, trackwatchers saw Vincent's Star stretch out nicely when trotting on the grass of the Perak Turf Club's track.
And, possibly to make doubly sure that his runner knows that there is serious business coming up, he had Vincent's Star saddled up again on May 8 and sent out for yet another trot on the track.
After all, he will be doing battle with two interstate heavyweights in Super Salute and Noah Khan, both proven performers from Kuala Lumpur.
Yes, come Race 5 on May 11, Ismadi will be expecting a big showing from this son of Epaulette - and why not?
By the looks of things, he has left no stone unturned in getting his stable flagbearer topped up and ready for business.
brian@sph.com.sg
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