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Smart three-year-old sprinter Ato overcame a rough passage in the $85,000 Open Benchmark 89 race over 1200m to emerge tops for his fifth win from eight starts on Friday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
After beginning quickly from his barrier No 4, the Royal Academy colt was eased out into second spot on the fence to allow Doraemon (Marcus Au) to dictate terms, with Kalash (Sean Cormack) in close attendance on the outside.
But once the Newbury Racing Stable-owned galloper was switched out wide for his run at the top of the straight, the issue was quickly put beyond doubt. Ato extended nicely to put the race away in a matter of a few bounds, pulling away to score by 2 ¾ lengths from Doraemon with Over The Rainbow (Soo Khoon Beng) running on late for third another 1 ¼ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 11.31secs.
Winning jockey Barend Vorster, who has now partnered Ato to four of his five victories, was still blown away by the devastating turn of foot inside the last furlong.
“He just sprinted away so quickly when I let him loose at the top of the straight,” said Vorster.
“He got a bit banged up during the race but I was never prepared to come back at the 300m as I knew how much I had underneath me.
“Once he changed gears, he was always going to win this race easily.”
Trainer Patrick Shaw is now targeting the $200,000 Group 3 Woodlands Handicap (1200m) on Polytrack on August 14 for the South African-bred colt.
“He's done a very good job to win tonight after he got knocked around a fair bit,” said Shaw who saddles Trafalgar Legacy for Dennis and Gael Evans of Newbury Racing Stable in the $1.15 million Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby on Sunday.
“I will see how he pulls up and then decide if he goes for the minor feature in a few weeks' time, the Woodlands Handicap.
“I will take him through his grades and keep him to 1200m races for now but being a Royal Academy, he will go over longer as he gets older.”
With this latest success, Ato has now brought his earnings past the $270,000 mark for his happy connections.
Shaw's second runner in the race, the Tmen Stable-owned debutant Brunei Royal, a three-time winner in Argentina, ran fifth about four lengths off his stablemate.
“I'm pretty happy with that first run,” said Shaw. “The jockey (Olivier Placais) said he was still green – he sprinted and then stopped – and can only improve from that first run.”