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Trainer Theo Kieser may be away at the Melbourne sales but it did not stop him from extending his score by two wins at home, including a stable quinella on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
After newcomer Yin Jie bagged the fifth Leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series four events earlier, one of his better moneyspinners, Honest Truth, backed up on his last-start win in a 1100m race with another trademark all-the-way win in the $95,000 Capablanca 2008 Handicap, an Open Benchmark 83 race over the shorter trip of 1000m.
The Hussonet five-year-old's last win was also recorded without Kieser on hand to see the feat, being then in Sydney to attend the Inglis Easter sales. Ridden by his last-start winning jockey Soo Khoon Beng, Honest Truth showed once again straightforward jump-and-go tactics do not require a lot of complex instructions.
But the neck-win over Maple Star (Joao Moreira) for a stable queue-up was a testament to the amount of planning and hard work put under the belt of those two horses by Kieser's staff, headed by his right-hand man Mahadi Taib.
The assistant-trainer, who first honed his craft with trainer Michael Clements, was glad that in the boss's absence he had been able to maintain the consistent pattern that has seen the yard rack up a sizeable haul of 17 winners, a record that puts them in a surprising sixth spot on the trainer's premiership.
“We were expecting a good day. Both Yin Jie and Honest Truth have worked very well,” said Mahadi.
“We also expected Maple Star to run well but we always thought Honest Truth had a better chance than him.
“He's a horse who loves this trip – 1000m. I was not worried the pace was so fast early as over 1000m you've got to be quick.
“KB knows the horse well and he just kept going strongly to the line. It's a big pressure off now that we got two winners - and I'm sure the boss can't complain.”
Soo said he set a cracking pace as he knew that was the way to demoralise Honest Truth's rivals, especially as the distance was 1000m.
“He was drawn wide and I had to use him early, but as it is over 1000m, I was hoping he would set a fast pace and still go all the way,” said Soo.
“I was only worried in the last 50m as he started to get a bit tired, but he held on very well.
“He's a horse who is still developing. I think he still has scope for improvement.”
Honest Truth was at his third Kranji win from six starts and has now picked up stakes earnings in excess of $125,000 for the Patinack Farm Stable, on top of the A$107,000 the previous Australian two-time winner had already amassed back home.