Mr Hooper wins on raw ability
James Peter-trained newcomer scores first-up despite racing greenly
Raw ability was what got newcomer Mr Hooper to the line first in Race 2 at Kranji yesterday, earning a possible start in the big one next start.
Named after Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper of 2011 Best Picture The King's Speech fame, the Oscar Racing Stable-owned galloper has been earmarked by trainer James Peters for the $325,000 Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe over 1,200m on July 13.
One of the four two-year-olds in the $85,000 Restricted Maiden event over 1,200m, Mr Hooper's 50kg handicap was the other winning factor as he received 7kg from the three-year-olds in the race.
The runner-up was fellow juvenile and newcomer, Toosbies, who finished a length behind. The winning time was 1min 11.39sec for the 1,200m on the Long Course D on a yielding track.
Ridden by two-time top apprentice CC Wong, Mr Hooper did not break quickly, around the midfield bunch but made up ground on the inside to be behind King Warrior, one of only three runners with at least a race experience, Lord Of Light and Navagio, who disputed the lead.
King Warrior and Lord Of Light broke away to be a length ahead of Navagio at the 700m mark. Mr Hooper was fourth.
French jockey Ryan Curatolo took Lord Of Light to the front turning for home. King Warrior back-pedalled. Mr Hooper was behind the pair and Wong decided to go for the inside run to use the rails to guide his inexperienced mount.
Riding hard, Wong steered Mr Hooper to race past Lord Of Light with 150m to go and, although his mount started to stargaze, kept my first choice to the winning post to pay a juicy $39 for a win. Toosbies finished well for second, a length behind the winner and a length in front of Lord Of Light.
Peters reckoned that Mr Hooper, the first leg of his treble, was still green as grass and it was not easy to win first-up with just a barrier trial at Kranji.
"He's still green, he's still learning. He had one trial in New Zealand and only had the one trial here," said the baby-faced Englishman. "We gave him a jump-out on the turf last week and it was as though he had never been there before. He was all over the place and, yeah, he knuckled down the last furlong (200m) today and did a good job.
"It wasn't easy going first-up off one barrier trial, his greenness and everything like that. He'll come on a lot and, hopefully we'll go into that Two-Year-Old race in a couple of weeks' time. If he pulls up okay, why not?"
He was referring to the Aushorse Golden Horseshoe, the final leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe Series for two-year-olds.
Wong concurred Mr Hooper has good speed to keep up with the pace but was still green.
"Coming into the straight, I saw a gap was going to open on the inside, but he was still green and was racing away. I thought I better take a chance and wait to get the rails to guide him along to the line.
"He's still very green. Anyway, he's just a two-year-old and is still learning. He was good when I asked him to go past the horses. He went through the gap but, after he got to the front, he didn't know what to do. Luckily, he kept going."
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