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Stepitup is just one step away from making a cleansweep of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge after he took out the $350,000 Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1400m) at Kranji on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
After narrowly winning the first Leg, the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) three weeks ago, the lightly-framed galloper by Hussonet was again a sight to behold as he let down powerfully up the home straight to go and record a stylish three-quarter length victory from a luckless Super Ninetyseven (Joao Moreira) with Zac Spirit (Greg Cheyne) a brave third another half-a-length away.
Stepitup ($14), who has now won six of his seven races, finding one better only once in a 1200m race last January, is now two-third of the way from upholding a record that has been established since the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge was revamped to its current format in 2010. Better Than Ever (2010), Gingerbread Man (2011) and Super Easy (2012) are all Triple Crown winners and could now be emulated by Stepitup should he come up trumps in the $500,000 Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) on May 17.
By securing two Legs, Stepitup took home a bonus of $50,000, which could swell to $150,000 if he bags the Guineas as well.
While the win in the Sprint was forged when he collared Simple Pleasures (a contender in the Classic but who unfortunately bled and was quickly pulled up) in the shadows of the post, the Classic win was just as tough to engineer when he was dropped back in a rearward position three wide facing the breeze.
But the decisive move was made round the corner when Stepitup’s regular partner Ivaldo Santana smartly went for home as Super Ninetyseven got held up for a run, pinching three lengths on his main rival.
Zac Spirit tried to contain the assault, but eventually cracked under pressure as Stepitup produced a superior finish to set sail for the winning post, albeit he was inclined to lay in inside the last 150m. Super Ninetyseven made stacks of ground once he found daylight, but it proved too little too late as he had to settle for second, finishing right on the girth of Stepitup, who clocked 1min 22.23secs for the 1400m journey on the Long Course.
Yeoh, who himself used to have misgivings about Stepitup making the grade at a higher level because of his small size, conceded the gelding has never ceased to surprise him.
“He’s really good,” he summed up aptly. “I never gave any instructions to Santana as he knows the horse so well. That’s why I was not all that worried when he was at the back three wide.
“He was gazing a little, but once he quickened, he put the race away.
“Take nothing away from the second horse (Super Ninetyseven) who’s a very good horse and didn’t get a clear run.
“The 1400m is his trip, but there was always a query if he could beat such a strong field and make it two Legs from two. My confidence grew when the rain came as he likes the sting out of the ground.”
Yeoh, who took over his elder brother Dr Yeoh Kheng Chye's stables last September, is probably pinching himself he has already won two feature races at his first full season of training.“It’s all about the horse. The Triple Crown dream is still alive, but we’ll have to see how he pulls up first,” said Yeoh.
“I’d again like to thank the owner for having given me such a good horse to train.”
With that second Group win, Stepitup has now extended his stakes earnings to around $475,000 for the Tivic Stable, an outfit headed by Thomas Loke, who is no stranger to Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge success having been the part-owner of Better Than Ever and previous two-Leg winner Given Vision (2009) under the Jupiter Stable banner.
Moreira said bad luck at the top of the straight had denied the Michael Freedman-trained Super Ninetyseven from making it back-to-back victories.
“We just had no luck,” said Moreira. “We got held up for a run at the wrong time and that is when the winner got away from us.
“The stablemate (Empire Bay) closed up the gap I was going for. When he was clear, he did run on very well.”