Lines sincerely believes in Kl

On his return from a Gold Coast sale last week, Kuala Lumpur trainer Richard Lines was right away greeted to a pleasant surprise from his galloper Sincerely on Oct 26.

The 11-time Malaysian champion trainer said he had not expected the French-bred eight-year-old to come out tops first-up off a seven-week break in the RM50,000 (S$15,200) Metro A (1,200m) race at Sungai Besi.

But, the way he stormed home down the outside to lower the colours of the hitherto unbeaten Witnessimpact and score easing down by 2½ lengths told the Australian handler he was doing something right, even when giving day-to-day remote instructions in the lead-up while he was on the Gold Coast.

“It was quite a competitive race and he was off a little while. It was his first run back from a break,” said Lines.

“We were hopeful of a good run, but certainly didn’t expect him to win the way he did. He’s quite a handy horse, but probably just a little below the best here.

“The fast early pace definitely played into his hands and (Laercio) de Souza had him in a perfect position.”

Witnessimpact was all set to extend his unbeaten run when he came off his third spot in transit to collar race-leader Violet (Uzair Sharudin) upon straightening.

But the Simon Dunderdale-trained Star Witness five-year-old ducked in twice in the straight, proving a handful for jockey Shafiq Rizuan, and costly in the end.

Sincerely defied his $73 odds (on the Singapore Pools tote) in the eight-horse field to score an easy 2½-length win.

Witnessimpact did eventually get the measure of Violet, but lost the runner-up spot by ½-length to his fast-finishing stablemate Good Fight (Andre da Silva).

A former two-time winner in Singapore when handled by Michael Clements, Sincerely did not exactly set Malaysia on fire when he moved to Lines in 2023, but still knocked in three wins, the latest before the Oct 26 win coming in a Supreme B race (1,100m) on May 12.

Thereafter, he produced two thirds, but ran nowhere when stepped up to Group 1 company in the Ipoh Gold Vase (1,100m) and Selangor Gold Cup (1,600m).

That tendency to underperform at elite level has been a common thread in his South-east Asian racing career.

The son of Evasive was a Listed winner in the 2019 Millkom Stakes in Toulouse before Thai outfit Falcon Racing Stable bought him with the 2020 Singapore Derby (1,800m) in mind.

Unfortunately, those lofty plans were thrown in disarray by some niggling injuries and Covid-19.

Lines was not letting the buoyant mood around Sincerely’s fourth Malaysian win raise his ambitions again, though.

“There are no special plans for him. I’ll just freshen him up and look for a suitablerace,” he said.

While Lines will play it by ear with Sincerely’s future, the former jockey is keen to work with the Selangor Turf Club in its endeavour to bring Kuala Lumpur racing to the next level.

Lines’ recent attendance at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Horses In Training Sale on Oct 22 was one of his ways of playing a part in that synergy.

“The stakes money are increasing from next year. We hope it will continue to increase,” said Lines.

“Prize money is key to everything, we saw it in Singapore and it’s the same in Malaysia. We need that to raise the owners’ confidence in putting in money to buy horses.

“We have no other choice but to go outside and purchase horses from Australia and New Zealand. I just bought five two-year-olds at Magic Millions and one tried four-year-old at the Inglis Digital.

“This is just the start. We need to get the confidence back in the club, with the right people steering the ship.

“The current CEO (Michael Fong), the chairman (Richard Cham) and the committee members are all behind, and we also need knowledgable people like Eric Koh (Falcon Racing’s manager).”

Lines, who sits in second spot on 39 winners, but a whopping 26 winners off leader Simon Dunderdale, can only hope these new recruits can build towards a stronger squad in 2025.

But he can also count on ready-made additions from across the Causeway for speedier returns.

“We got eight to nine horses from Singapore after the closure (Oct 5), mostly from Steven Burridge,” he said. “Hopefully, they perform here.”

Unplaced in the Grand Singapore Gold Cup, Burridge’s Cavalry is the highest-rated transfer on 86, but the Desmond Koh-trained Flying Nemo is also a handy sort.

manyan@sph.com.sg