Boardroom finally on board

Trainer Ricardo Le Grange was over the moon when Boardroom finally opened his account at his fifth start on April 21.

Four unplaced runs had left the South African handler scratching his head.

It was either the three-year-old son of 2018 American Triple Crown winner Justify was overrated or just a tricky puzzle to solve.

Le Grange persevered, threw a set of blinkers on, confident the Javiers’ hard-earned A$200,000 (S$174,700) would eventually bring returns.

A first instalment of around $10,000 from a first win in the $20,000 Maiden (1,600m) may still look like a low yield but, to Le Grange, it was a first step in the right direction.

“A big thank you to Sandy and Karen Javier, who have been very patient with this horse,” said Le Grange, who has already trained two Group winners for the Filipino owners, Bestseller and Ace Of Diamonds.

“I think the main issue I’ve had with this horse was the limited options for distance races.

“He’s shown promise in his work, won his barrier trials, but was not putting it together in his races.

“You could see he was cantering up front while the whole field was off the bridle today. The engine is clearly there.

“Bernardo (Pinheiro) said he was still a big baby, but he’s improving. Today, it was a combination of ground, maturity and blinkers.

“I think he is just getting better with every race.”

Fresh off his smashing hat-trick of wins at his return from Dubai on April 13, Pinheiro had a good hunch he could keep the ball rolling with Boardroom.

The young Brazilian jockey, who broke his Singapore Group 1 maiden tag with Le Grange’s Hongkong Great in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1,800m) on Oct 14 – on the last day of his 2023 Kranji stint – had actually flagged that ride while still in Dubai.

“I galloped and trialled this horse before I went back to Dubai. We knew all along he was a good horse,” said the 27-year-old.

“He’s such a big horse, but very sensitive. He has capacity, but I think he’s a late 3YO.

“Three weeks ago, I saw this Maiden race over the mile, and I told Ricardo I’d like to ride him if he runs him.”

Pinheiro’s early work with the grey showed from the way the $13 favourite easily landed in front from barrier No. 3.

The lead was not left uncontested in the backstraight, but Boardroom never came off the bridle. Inside the last 300m, Supreme Liner (Ryan Curatolo) tried to cut back the margin, but to no avail.

Boardroom relegated the second favourite to his third second place in a row by 3¼ lengths with Bravo Kid (Saifudin Ismail) third another two lengths away. The winning time was 1min 34.77sec for the 1,600m on the short course.

“Today the plan was not to go forward but, as there was no pressure, we switched to Plan B and led,” said Pinheiro.

“I just got him to relax and I kept him rolling forward in the backstraight.

“He was still a baby in the home straight, but he will get better with more racing.

“He’s a horse who will improve with more distance.”

Le Grange confirmed that his hefty price tag was commensurate with ambitious goals set for him.

“He was bought for the backend of the 3YO races,” he said.

“We still have a bit of time for the Guineas. We’ll just take it one race at a time.”

While the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge and Four-Year-Old Challenge, or any other series for that matter (like the Singapore Triple Crown) have been discontinued in this final Singapore horse racing season, the individual features making up those series will still be run as standalone races.

After capturing the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1,200m) with Ace Of Diamonds on April 6, Le Grange and the Javiers are going for the clean sweep with the son of Swiss Ace.

The other two legs are the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1,400m) on April 27 and the Group 2 Singapore Guineas (1,600m) on May 18, when they may have a second hopeful in Boardroom.

Pinheiro completed a riding double with Sabah Ace ($47) in the $70,000 Class 3 race (1,600m) but, unfortunately, the horse bled.

Given the mandatory three-month suspension, trainer David Kok will have to shelve 4YO plans for the six-time winner.

manyan@sph.com.sg