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First starter Perfect Time lived up to his name with a debut win in the $65,000 Pacific Prince 2001 Stakes over 1200m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Ridden by Sam Subien, Perfect Time held on to score in the Initiation Stakes by a neck over Green Jacket (Alan Munro) with Golden Beach (Ng Kok Keong) three-and-quarter lengths back in third place.
Perfect Time was one of the first to begin and shared the pace with Alpha Infinity (Chin Chee Seng) with Zena (Joao Moreira) and Green Jacket also handy.
Turning for home Perfect Time kicked clear while Green Jacket had improved out three wide to be in a challenging position. With 200m Perfect Time looked all set to claim victory but then Green Jacket rallied again and kept driving to the line, but was unable to run down the winner.
Golden Beach ran home well late to claim third place without ever looking a winning chance in the run.
Trainer Tan Hor Khoon revealed a niggling knee problem had resulted in Perfect Time's delayed start to racing.
The four-year-old arrived from New Zealand last July and had been given plenty of time to adjust to the Singapore conditions.
“He had showed us quite a lot of ability and he had a good draw today and we were hopeful of him giving us a good showing,” said Tan.
“We had to take our time with him also lately as he's had a bit of a knee problem, but he didn't show any problems out there today.
“We can just hope now that he pulls-up well from this race and can go on with it.”
Sam, who rode Perfect Time in the second of his two barrier trials, said Perfect Time did everything right at his first start but admitted to some concerns in the final stages of the race.
“I thought before the race whether he would be mature enough to win at his first start,” said Sam.
“Luckily he had the pace to be up near the lead and he did relax nicely when we got to the lead.
“I was concerned over the last 100m whether he would be able to hold on, so in the end he has done a very good job.
“Hopefully he can keep improving and he might be able to go on and win some more races.”
A four-year-old New Zealand-bred by Al Akbar from the Desert Sun mare One Vision, Perfect Time is raced by Aw Kian Hwa.