It’s Sayonara to all in trial 2

In one swift move. which began just before the furlong mark, Sayonara lived up to his name.

He hit the front and said “see ya” to the pair of racers ahead of him.

As for the others in the chasing pack, well, they were too far adrift to hear that teasing goodbye.

On the morning of Feb 6, and in the second of three trials scheduled for that day, Sayonara came from a spot near last to swamp his rivals over the short and sharp 1,000m trip.

Okay, in clocking 1min 01.57sec, he did not break any land speed records.

But maybe, that was never the plan of his trainer, Ricardo Le Grange, who would still have been pleased with the outcome.

Ask him and he will probably say that Sayonara is a good horse to have in the yard.

He runs like his life depends on it and, to date, no one has told him that, at eight, he is getting old and that he is plying his trade in Class 5.

That may be the case but Sayonara is far from just a plodder.

Statistics seldom lie and, if you look at Sayonara’s numbers, you will see that he has not finished further than fourth in 13 of his last 15 outings.

So, that good showing at the trials should not come as too big a surprise.

Sure, it surprised his rivals who never expected to see him flying home with Rozlan Nazam in the pilot’s seat.

But, that he did.

After clearing the chute with the rest of the six runners – Dragon Boss was a late scratching – Rozlan settled Sayonara next to last and there they stayed until the 600m mark, where Sayonara began to inch his way into contention.

Halfway down the home stretch and he had the leaders in his crosshairs.

It was just a matter of when he would pull the trigger.

It happened a furlong out and, as mentioned, that was where Sayonara said “goodbye” to the rest.

A son of 2009 Melbourne Cup winner Shocking, Sayonara has not reached the lofty heights of his sire but he has not been too shabby.

Class 5 has been his comfort zone and Le Grange – who happens to own the galloper – has managed to squeeze six wins out of that frame of his.

The win at the trials was another indicator that Sayonara is far from ready to be put out to pasture.

As for third-placed Chosen, who races off a rating of 58 points, he was having his first hit-out as a newly registered horse at Kranji and he passed his “test”.

Why not? He was neatly out of the gates and, under Brazilian jockey Bruno Queiroz, he claimed the lead in the home stretch – only to be overhauled by Sayonara and Watery, who beat him by a nose.

When Chosen does go to the races, the Brazilian-bred four-year-old entire by Courtier will be racing under the green, black and yellow colours of the Toast Trusts & Family Racing Fun Stable.

When that happens, make sure he is on your chosen list.

Later, in the third and final trial of the morning, Baby Twins gave a good account of himself.

Ridden by Iskandar Rosman, he and Cheval Magnifique had the trial to themselves from the get-go.

An Irish-bred five-year-old, Cheval Magnifique had the upper hand early but Baby Twins – an English-bred four-year-old – would not let him out of his sight.

So there they went. Two horses from the northern hemisphere battling it out in humid Singapore.

It was a stride-for-stride affair over the final 100m and, just where it mattered, Baby Twins put his head down to claim a narrow victory.

Baby Twins clocked 1:00.88 for the trip – just missing out by a tick to go under the minute mark.

Baby Twins is winless after 11 starts but his second-placed effort behind Red Dot two starts back on Dec 30 would have brought on a smile from trainer Jerome Tan.

As for Cheval Magnifique, he lost no marks and, indeed, he could have made new friends with that narrow defeat.

Though beaten, he was full of running on pulling up and he could be worth some thought when he next goes to the races.

brian@sph.com.sg