Empowering raring to go
Much improved Takaoka-trained 3YO will relish the step-up from 1,200m to 1,400m
With the benefit of a run and an extra 200m, Empowering looks set to power his way to victory at Kranji on Saturday.
That will be in a $75,000 Restricted Maiden event over 1,400m (turf) in Race 2.
Looking at the card, Empowering is one of the two in-form runners in the 12-horse field. The other is Royal Commission.
The rest are either new horses or have not shown up before.
Trained by Hideyuki Takaoka for Sovereign Stable, Empowering showed promise by winning both his trials – on July 11 and 27.
But the three -year-old son of US Navy Flag was surprisingly left in the cold in his debut in a similar Restricted Maiden race over 1,200m on Aug 20.
In that race was a more impressive two-time trial winner, Last Supper, who started as the raging $6 favourite. And the James Peters-trained galloper ran like one to post a comfortable 2½-length win in 1min 10.45sec under Vlad Duric.
Empowering, a $63 shot ridden by Saifudin Ismail, was not disgraced. In fact, it was a good first-up effort. In midfield for most of the way, he was trapped on the inside but battled his way to finish fourth, four lengths adrift.
Since then, Empowering has caught the eye in his last two gallops. On both occasions, he gave stablemate Voluntad a headstart but quickly caught up and kept abreast to the post on a tight hold. He pulled up full of running.
Saifudin is happy with the progress of the bay New Zealand-bred.
While hopeful, he thinks the horse is still young and will be better with racing.
He noted that the horse would race off the bit early but would pick up ground fast after warming up – like on his debut when he was beaten for early pace after jumping well from gate 1.
“At the turn, I tried to switch out but there was no room, so I was stuck on the inside,” said Saifudin.
“This horse, he likes to race off the bit in the first part of the race but he starts to make up ground coming to the 700m to 800m.
“He’s still young, he’s still a baby, he just turned three. The early part, he was like not focusing, always looking around and then start to make up ground strongly.
“I’m happy with him and I think the 1,400m will suit.”
“You can see from his first trial, when he won, he was like nothing special. I asked him and he didn’t want to move. Only in the last 200m, he started to make up ground nicely.
“I think he’s not matured yet, still baby-like. He’ll improve after a few runs and he’ll be a better horse.”
Another plus factor is that Empowering will carry only 51.5kg – compared to 57kg on debut.
Royal Commission, the biggest threat to Empowering, has also improved after his debut third in a Restricted Maiden event over the Polytrack on Aug 6.
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