Heartening Flyer catches the eye
Clements’ Ealami and Prosperous Return also impress with their trial victories
Trainer Michael Clements was one happy man at the trials at Kranji yesterday morning.
The 2020 Singapore champion had five runners in three trials and he not only won all three but he also saddled the quinella in two.
In the opener, his Al Rashid Stable-owned pair, newcomer Ealami and debut runner-up Istataba, finished first and second respectively.
In Trial 3, his Tivic Stable-owned Heartening Flyer got up beautifully to score.
This was followed in the next heat by Tivic’s Prosperous Return beating stablemate Greatham Girl, who is owned by Greatham Girl and MA Racing Stable.
Trainer Shane Baertschiger took the other two trials – with Ronaldo Stable’s From The Navy and Tornado Stable’s newcomer Watery.
Both were impressive, too. Keep them in mind.
Ealami, ridden by Louis-Philippe Beuzelin, and Istataba, who had Kranji newcomer Jake Bayliss aboard, were in midfield early.
They got through a gap between the leader Battle Win and Kinabalu Prince on the rails shortly after straightening.
They then broke away, with Ealami winning by a neck in a quick 59.34sec.
Heartening Flyer raced wide and further than midfield early, as I Am Sacred set the pace.
The leader was swarmed in the final 200m by four horses, including Heartening Flyer, who was widest of all.
Although not extended by jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim, Heartening Flyer went on to win by half a length from Legend Of The Sun. He clocked a hand-timed 59.52sec.
He looked fighting fit and is ready to extend his winning tally for his connections. The five-year-old New Zealand-bred has been a money-spinner with five wins and four seconds from 13 starts.
In his last outing on Jan 22, he finished strongly for a half-length second behind the classy Katak in a Class 2 event over 1,400m on turf.
Clements always has high hopes for Heartening Flyer. His “ultimate goal” is the $1 million Group 1 Kranji Mile. The 1,600m event is on May 22 and will be the first feature of the 2022 racing season.
“We have always rated the horse highly, but have not had the opportunity yet to run him in a Cup race,” he said in an earlier interview.
Prosperous Return was last early but was moved up gradually but wide by jockey Manoel Nunes. Greatham Girl sat behind the leader Who Loves Bae.
Prosperous Return took the lead on straightening and it was all over. He won in 59.50sec. Greatham Girl (Beuzelin) was a nice second. Both should also do well in their next assignments.
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