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Second-season trainer Shane Baertschiger finally opened his 2013 account when One Rar scored a nice win in the $55,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
After seeing 18 previous runners go around the track without saluting, the Australian handler was back at the Kranji winner’s circle - a place he visited 44 times at his first season last year - with the former Sydney-based galloper whose debut third last December had been full of promise.
Formerly prepared by Craig Carmody, the ex-jockey who struck a successful partnership with Baertschiger’s father Don in the early 2000s, One Rar relished the fast pace set by the duelling pair of Lucky Twenty Two (Manoel Nunes) and Premier Grade (Joao Moreira) before asserting his superiority in the home straight.
Under jockey John Powell’s urgings, One Rar swept past Premier Grade with ease before holding Work Ahead (Stephen Baster) at bay to win by just under two lengths. Premier Grade held on for third another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 11.66secs.
“The pressure’s off now,” said Baertschiger as it started to rain over Kranji. “He had improved on his trackwork since his first run and we were expecting a good run from him today.
“The only worry I had was him being second-up over 1200m as his form had been over longer back home. He won over 1400m at Nowra and has even raced up to 2100m.
“But JP rode him a treat and brought him out at the right time. Craig’s been sending us a few good horses since he took up training – No Respite is another handy horse from him.”
Powell for one would prefer to see One Rar venturing over more ground to have a better gauge of his ability.
“He had a nice run throughout, but the 1200m is not really his go. He probably needs 1600m and even further,” said the Australian rider.
“I would have been disappointed if he had not won today, but it’s hard to say how far he’ll go. On today’s trip, you couldn’t expect him to win by four lengths.”
One Rar is by Dane Shadow out of the Xaar dam Xaarbarella and cost A$90,000 as a yearling. He came to Singapore with the handy record of one win and six placings from eight starts.
