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Clements claims unique treble

If not for one of his stable staff, Saturday's Singapore Derby-winning trainer Michael Clements would not have realised that he had claimed a unique Triple Crown.

The Zimbabwe-born Singaporean trainer saddled the winners of all three Singapore Four-Old Challenge races.

What's more, he did it with three different horses with three different jockeys for three different owners.

Before the Vlad Duric-ridden Derby success over 1,800m on the Falcon Racing No. 7-owned Top Knight, Clements had captured the first leg with Tivic Stable's Bold Thruster (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) in the Group 3 Silver Bowl over 1,400m on Feb 29. Then the middle leg with Pupetch Racing's Siam Blue Vanda (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) in the Group 2 Stewards' Cup over 1,600m on March 20.

Even more intriguing, Clements had something to do with Jolie's Shinju - the last horse to win the 4YO Triple Crown in 2009.

He actually bought the champion mare in Japan for the owner and trained her to win three races, before moving to Hideyuki Takaoka, who saddled the horse to the Triple Crown feat.

"In Zimbabwe in 1997, I trained a three-year-old Triple Crown winner called Summer Silence," recalled Clements.

"So, to have done it again in Singapore in the form of training the winners of all three legs of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Triple Crown is a great achievement.

"I am thankful for the support from all the three different owners of Bold Thruster, Siam Blue Vanda and Top Knight.

"I look forward to the rest of our racing season with these horses, and to also securing further top-performing horses for them in the future."

HORSE RACING