3 days ago
Heritage Sixty-One can get off the mark in Malaysia
The name "Abdullah Aboo Bakker" is not one that racegoers drop into their conversations when "talking horse" over their morning coffee.
He is what one would call a "battling trainer".
The Singaporean handler has saddled just four winners for the season.
But, with four more months to go in the 2025 season, he could probably surpass his tally of four wins in 2024, albeit it could be a tougher ask to outdo his record of 30 winners in 2023.
On Aug 9, we saw him pull one out of the hat when Show All Sixty-One beat a Class 4A field over the 1,200m course at Sungai Besi.
That was after his stablemate Buuraq Sixty-One finished second to the talented Bold Runner in an earlier race.
Abdullah has entered a team of five, including emergency acceptor King Of Sixty-One, for the Aug 17 meeting. Among them, Heritage Sixty-One is ready to open his account.
The three-year-old colt, who races in the colours of the AJ'S Stable, tossed in a smart gallop on the morning of Aug 12 when running the 600m in 39.2sec.
An English-bred by Ardad, Heritage Sixty-One has had two runs for Abdullah, and he would have been pleased with that last-start effort on July 13.
That day, when ridden by Wong Kam Chong and asked to tackle the Restricted Maiden event over 1,100m at Ipoh, Heritage Sixty-One ran a terrific race.
He attempted to make every post a winning one, but in what was a rough run which saw him bumped by another runner, Heritage Sixty-One had to settle for the runner-up spot - just a length behind Speedy Samurai, who had the services of leading jockey Andre da Silva.
That is now water under the bridge. Heritage Sixty-One would have rested well and his work on the training track does suggest that he could be ready to break his maiden status in the Restricted Maiden race (1,200m) on Aug 17, which will bring on the cheers in Abdullah's yard.
In that same Restricted Maiden contest, Northam Beach also tossed in a good workout when running the 600m in 37.8sec.
Trained by Frank Maynard for the Virgo Bay Racing Stable, the Darci Brahma three-year-old colt has yet to face the starter, but he will kick off his career on the back of two decent trials.
He was third in his last trial on Aug 5. It was a tight finish, and the winner was his stablemate Mega Skye, who has put together two wins in three trials.
Do not dismiss Northam Beach. He could fill in the blanks when you are working out the route for those tierce and quartet bets.
Another one worth some attention is Richard Mule.
Contrary to what the "mule" in his name seems to suggest, this eight-year-old veteran is still capable of raising a good gallop.
The son of Iffraaj did it in his morning workout when running the 600m in a flashy 37sec.
A winner of three races from 24 starts, Richard Mule last made the board when he took third spot in a Class 4A contest over 1,300m at Ipoh on May 11.
Trainer Winson Cheng has found a pretty neat race for the New Zealand-bred. It is a Class 4B sprint over the 1,150m, and it should suit Richard Mule's preferred style of racing - which is to lead.
Come Aug 17, Cheng can also produce another good one in Northern Star.
The seven-year-old grey gelding will be lining up in another Class 4B race (1,150m), and he is not without a chance.
Northern Star was out on the training track where he tossed in a 600m workout in 39sec.
While his last few runs seem to suggest that he is a runner who prefers to come from behind, the 1,150m he has to cover on Aug 17 is not out of his depth.
Though the son of Written Tycoon did not succeed at Kranji when he was trained by Jason Ong, Northern Star has gone on to win five races in Malaysia, and across all three tracks at Selangor Turf Club, Perak Turf Club and the now-defunct Penang Turf Club.
Rolling back to his last win on May 3 when he had da Silva in the saddle, Northern Star came from a spot in midfield at the turn to beat the Ong-trained Outfit by a neck. That was in a Class 4B event over the sharp 1,020m.
If anything, he will relish the upcoming 1,150m race.
brian@
