Leck Revolution at KL trials

Trainer Charles Leck was in no mood to play the good guy at the trials on Nov 12.

Not only had he entered a bunch of runners for the five trials at his home base in Kuala Lumpur, but his horses won three of them and, for good measure, another took second spot.

Not to be outdone, his nephew – Joseph Leck – pulled a winner out of the hat when taking the first sprint with Italian Revolution.

Yes, it could pay to keep an eye on the Leck horses in that run to the end of the season. They look to be in great order.

Well, if it was any consolation for Joseph in that family duel, Italian Revolution clocked the fastest time of the morning when pulling away at the 100m mark under apprentice Pavinthran Kumar to win his heat in 1min 0.14sec.

While only a five-year-old, the son of Caravaggio has seen his share of stables.

His first “home” was at Shane Baertschiger’s Kranji yard for whom he knocked in three wins.

When Baertschiger wrapped it up in December 2023, Italian Revolution moved over to fellow Australian Tim Fitzsimmons’ yard.

He then crossed the Causeway and took residence in one of Charles Leck’s stalls. But he did not stay there long and on Aug 11 he had his first start for the other Leck.

Two starts later, on Sept 8, he began paying for his room and board when winning a 1,100m race under former champion jockey-apprentice Clyde Leck, Charles’ son.

For now, that was it. Following that success, we saw Italian Revolution run second and third in his two latest outings and that win at the trials does suggest he will be a force to reckon with at his next start.

Now for uncle Charles’ trio of wins.

It all began in the third of the morning when two former Kranji gallopers stole the show. Pacific Snoopy swooped to conquer Our Secret Weapon (Khairil Zulkiflee) by almost four lengths over the 1,000m.

In a dominant show of sprinting prowess, Pacific Snoopy came from near last at the 400m mark to mow down her rivals. She clocked 1min 0.65sec.

Had she wanted to, she could easily have beaten the minute-mark but that might not have been the plan. On gaining the lead, jockey Laercio de Souza eased her to the line.

A five-year-old mare by Hellbent, Pacific Snoopy was at her sixth trial win since Sept 18.

Yes, she has not raced since Aug 24 but she has not been lazing around in her stall. Leck has got plans for her and it could pay to keep her high on your radar.

Back to the action on Nov 12, in quick succession, Leck sent out Smart One to take Trial No. 4.

Ridden by Pavinthran, Smart One was – well – too smart for his rivals.

Sporting blinkers, this Snitzel five-year-old overcame a tardy start to score a tough win, beating the Abdullah Aboo Bakker-trained Balkan (Uzair Sharudin) by a neck.

The pair consigned trainer Cheng Han Yong’s Happy Magic (Haikal Hanif) to third spot.

But on the day, it was all about Smart One. He is raced by the Smart Bet Stable who went down in Singapore racing history as being the owners of the last winner of the Singapore Gold Cup, Smart Star.

Well, Smart One – who was formerly trained by Smart Star’s David Kok and later Mahadi Taib at Kranji – is not Smart Star, but he does look smart enough to pull off a win or two for his new master, Leck.

Then, to wind up a busy but impressive morning on track, Leck sent out Counter Attack in the last jump-out of the day.

Ridden by 4kg-claimer Bahauddin Sharudin in a barrier practice, Counter Attack was third on settling but cruised home an easy winner, beating Stealth Sixty-One (Khairil) by 1½ lengths.

Stealth Sixty-One, who has yet to make his racing debut, was having an “Official Race Trial (ORT)” which he passed.

Formerly with Joseph Leck before switching over to Charles, Counter Attack is a ghostly grey who has been finding it difficult getting into the winner’s frame. To date, the eight-year-old has had 33 starts for just one win, two seconds and three third placings.

At his last run on Sept 9, he finished down the course in a race over the mile. He was then sent for four trials and he won one of them.

Tuesday morning’s hit-out was the Tapit eight-year-old’s first for his new trainer who would have been very pleased with the effort.

Now comes the real thing. With those trials under his girth, will Counter Attack be up to the task and put together a win before the season is up? Well, the work is done. No doubt about it.

brian@sph.com.sg