An El of a Winning ride with Terry Lee
Logan reminisces as Winning Stride scores on debut and keeps Fairdeal legacy going
As Donna Logan sauntered down from the grandstand to lead Winning Stride in after the grey’s debut Kranji win on Saturday, it brought back memories of the day she beat the same path 23 years ago.
Except that it was more of a frantic dash covered in much less time.
On Oct 24, 1999, a then spanking new Kranji hosted its first Singapore Gold Cup. Logan was in the stands that day, not as a trainer, which had already been her trade in her native New Zealand for 12 years, but as a visiting part-owner of the favourite El Duce.
The son of Lord Ballina was prepared by fellow Kiwi Paddy Busuttin and carried the same colours as Winning Stride in Saturday’s much more modest $20,000 Open Maiden Polytrack race (1,200m).
“El Duce was the hot favourite in the Singapore Gold Cup. I shared the horse with Dato Terry Lee and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla,” said Logan.
“After El Duce ran second in the New Zealand Derby (1998) and finished third in the Canterbury Guineas (1998), Terry came to New Zealand one day and said he would like to buy half of the shares in El Duce to race him up in Singapore.
“But he got galloped on in the race, and that sliced his tendon. I ran from the grandstand to tell the vet not to put him down.
“We eventually saved him, and Paddy brought him back. But he was not quite the same.
“We took him back to New Zealand and, after he recuperated, he went on to win two Waikato Gold Cups (2002 and 2003).”
As a piece of trivia, El Duce was ridden in the first Waikato Gold Cup success by the same jockey who sat on him in the Gold Cup, former Bukit Timah favourite, Kiwi female jockey Catherine Treymane.
Logan said she caught the Singapore racing bug from the late Lee.
“It’s Terry who got me interested to become a trainer in Singapore. He introduced me to Mr Poonawalla, whom I’ve never met before,” said Logan, who again wrested the premiership lead from Tim Fitzsimmons on Saturday.
“I remember he said he flew to Singapore in his dad’s jet. I told myself ‘okay, this is a different league’, but the rest is history.”
Training at Kranji came true after Logan put pen to paper in 2017.
Lee, who passed away in August, was then with Mark Walker, but after the Singapore champion trainer returned to New Zealand in January, he linked back up with Logan through Speedy Missile, and now Winning Stride, a Wrote four-year-old who began his career in New Zealand with Walker.
“Terry was an owner with us with Hong Kong partner Ronald Lau, who has been with Te Akau for 14 years,” said Logan. “This win by Winning Stride is very satisfying. Terry’s daughter, Theresa, and the other children want to continue their father’s Fairdeal stable for as long as they can.
“Winning Stride’s an exciting horse, but I didn’t like the draw. We discussed with Jake (Bayliss), we decided to settle off the speed.
“But when the gates opened, Jake had to go forward or he’d have been carted three wide. That’s what good jockeys do, they have to make split-second decisions.
“Jake took the risk out of the equation when he pressed on. C.C. Wong (Chin Chuen) took them on, though, but the horse dug deep.”
Bayliss was less laudatory of his ride. But he rode Winning Stride like the best horse in the race.
“He was very vulnerable, but he was able to get there,” he said.
“It wasn’t the plan to lead. I did ride him a bit back to front, but he won on raw ability.
“It’ll be nice to see how he goes if ridden more conservatively.”
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