Choi's Storm To Finish lives up to his name
Not only did the Hong Kong-born handler win the second of four hit-outs, he introduced two outstanding newcomers to the racing ranks.
They were Storm To Finish and Superb Winner.
The latter did not quite live up to his name. He did not win the trial but ran second.
But, Storm To Finish did exactly what his name suggested he could do.
After squirming his way through three front runners in Trial 2, the Anders two-year-old stormed to the lead, jealously holding on to it.
At the finish, he had beaten his stablemate Superb Winner by 1¼ lengths and his time for the 1,000m was not too shabby.
He did the trip in 1min 0.92sec - missing out by a whisker to break the minute mark.
Formerly based in Macau, Choi had, when setting up shop at Sungai Besi, hinted that he would be bringing over some talented youngsters.
Well, over the months, he has kept that part of the promise, and we saw two more of them at the trials. Here is how the action unfolded.
Ridden by Troy See, Storm To Finish had no issues leaving the chutes and he soon settled into fourth spot, allowing Superb Winner, One Alakazam and Solidasarock to do battle up front.
He was still parked fourth when the field straightened up, but See must have known that he had a good horse beneath him and he just "marked time" as the fight up front continued.
With 250m to go, he fashioned a run and asked his mount for an effort. Storm To Finish took the bit, found an opening between the pack and quickly claimed the lead. Superb Winner, ridden by Liang Xiaochuan, raised an effort but it was not enough.
The momentum was with Storm To Finish who went on to win with plenty still in the tank.
Superb Winner, who is also an unraced two-year-old, did well to hold off third-placed Solidasarock. The winning turn of the son of Super Seth should be coming up soon.
Earlier in the first trial of the morning, trainer Richard Lim introduced racegoers to another talented resident at his yard - Fortune Tree.
A three-year-old by Ardrossan, Fortune Tree won his trial - which also served as a starting stall test - with loads of authority.
Ridden by Shafiq Rizuan and having to clear the outermost gate, he was neatly into stride and immediately took a spot at the withers of the front runner, Diaz.
Looking comfortable, he remained there until they had covered 800m of the required 1,000m.
Soon, it was time to go and, like a bolt from out of the blue, Fortune Tree took off, collared Diaz and drew clear to win by half-a-length in 1:00.65.
Although new to the Malaysian scene, Fortune Tree is not wet behind the ears. Until being flown out to Malaysia, he raced in Australia where he won a race at Seymour in the state of Victoria.
That was on July 2, 2024 and, racing under the name of Jazzclub, he claimed a 1,300m race for two-year-olds at set weights.
Now that he was seen in action at the trials, it is only fair to say that he could be a force to reckon with at his Malaysian debut.
Runner-up Diaz was on veterinary orders, as he had just served a three-month ban after having bled at his last start on Feb 16.
With no issues after his trial, the Nick Selvan-trained Winning Rupert five-year-old should be close to returning to the races.
brian@sph.com.sg
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