Leck serves notice of stable form at trials

Trainer Charles Leck’s runners were in flowing form at the barrier trials held at the Selangor Turf Club on Dec 3.

He took two of the six that were contested.

And the horses did it in fine style, winning their hit-outs by eight lengths and five lengths respectively.

First off in the third trial on that Tuesday morning, Leck sent out Cinnamon Blaze.

His other runaway winner came in quick succession when Smart One blitzed his rivals to take the cheers in the next trial.

While both runners did not break the minute-mark over the Sungai Besi 1,000m journey, their wins were brutal – to their rivals, that is.

Jumping from gate No. 6 in that field of eight, Cinnamon Blaze never gave the opposition a peek in.

He was off like a bullet from a barrel of a gun and, from then on, it was “game over”.

Up in the saddle, Ruzaini Supien was being given a sedan-chair ride.

Cinnamon Blaze was two lengths clear when the field made the first turn on the far side and he held that lead on straightening.

Three hundred metres out and Rocket Horse tried to make inroads into his lead but Leck’s runner would have none of it.

Instead, and under no urging, he went into overdrive and at the finish, he had cleared away to put daylight between himself and the rest.

Had Ruzaini not lifted his foot off the pedal, it could easily have been a metric mile.

A five-year-old by Magnus, Cinnamon Blaze was well supported on debut on Nov 17 but his backers took a beating as Cinnamon Blaze finished a well-beaten fifth to Big Bad Mama.

It was back to the drawing board, but he has come through that trial looking like a million bucks.

Yes, Leck has a good one in the barn and a win at start No. 2 should not come as a surprise. Keep him on your shortlist.

Keep an eye also on Rocket Horse. Trained by Abdullah Aboo Bakker and owned by the Al-Arabiya Stable, he has won two races from seven starts but his last success was way back on June 18, 2023.

The Russian Revolution five-year-old looks to be working his way back into winning form.

Immediately following Cinnamon Blaze’s beating of Rocket Horse, Leck sent Smart One out to contest the fourth hit-out of the morning.

As it turned out, it was another one-horse show with Smart One outsmarting his rivals over the sharp sprint trip.

With Clyde Leck doing the steering, the five-year-old son of Snitzel was always travelling too well for the rest.

Sure, he only claimed the lead at the 400m mark but, even until then, he had a grasp on things.

Like it was in the previous trial, the others tried to eat into his lead but he was not in the mood of granting favours.

So it was, Leck dug in and spurred his mount to the line and managed to put a big space between himself and second-placed Somar.

Yes, it was a good morning romp and the Lecks would have been happy.

A one-time winner from 23 starts – 22 of which were at Kranji – Smart One has not yet lived up to his potential.

After all, he was an expensive import, with Team Hawkes Racing of Sydney forking out A$550,000 (S$479,000) when they bought him as a yearling at the 2021 Inglis Easter sale in Australia.

Yes, he is better than his record does suggest. Perhaps a change in environment might do the trick and we could see him flourish in his new surroundings.

One who needs no introduction to Malaysian racing and has adapted really well is Kanthaka.

Prepared by Winson Cheng Han Yong, Kanthaka was another bright spark at the trials.

Taken out by apprentice Haikal Hanif, the seven-year-old owned that morning jump-out.

Clearing the innermost gate with ease, he was quickly into his rhythm and when the runners were at the top of the home stretch, he already gave them something to chase.

Opening up like a good horse, he drew away and, at the furlong mark, the battle was for second spot and that fight was between Dancing Light and Ansu.

Wth Kanthaka home and hosed by 6½ lengths and in a time of 1min 0.92sec, it was left to the Simon Dunderdale-trained Ansu to beat the Ananthen Kuppan-trained Dancing Light for second spot.

But it was all about Kanthaka. After three disappointing outings going back to Sept 8, he is finally getting into his groove.

Yes, the son of Showcasing is definitely improving and a ninth win should be forthcoming – even before the season is over.

brian@sph.com.sg