Nemo should fly home
3YO NZ-bred may be small in size but can snare third win in four starts with big heart
Dwarfism in a horse does not make it any less disadvantaged in a race.
What is most important is that will to win.
Many small horses have run the legs off their bigger-sized rivals, even in the major races around the world.
On the local front, former top home-grown jockey-turned-trainer Leslie Khoo can attest to that.
He rode the Teh Choon Beng-trained and Auric Stable-owned “pocket dynamo” Sir Toby to victory in the 1978 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
Sir Toby also captured the 1977 Singapore Gold Cup and Tunku Gold Cup with Taffy Thomas astride, and the Perak Derby with Mohamed Ismail aboard in the same year.
“He is small. I can’t remember his weight – probably 15.2 or 15.3 hands (about 1.55m) – but he has a very big heart. That’s the most important,” said Khoo, on one of Singapore-Malaysia’s equine greats.
Well, on Saturday, we have a 429kg “pony” who has been a joy to have for trainer Desmond Koh and Nemo Stable.
Like his name suggests, Flying Nemo has wings like Pegasus in his three starts at Kranji.
In his debut on Oct 8, 2022 – in a Restricted Maiden event over the Polytrack 1,000m – the three-year-old New Zealand-bred looked a goner when he dropped back to third-last after being well up.
Then the bay gelding had a wall of horses in front on straightening.
But, when asked to quicken by jockey Simon Kok, Flying Nemo responded brilliantly.
He swept past Italian Revolution (479kg) 100m out and his momentum literally made the rest look like they were standing still.
Another horse he beat in that race, Petrograd (520kg), went on to win two races, including in Class 4.
Petrograd gunned down Mimosas and the well-rated runner-up franked the form by making amends at his next start.
Second-up on Jan 23, Flying Nemo again produced his blistering burst to beat Opunake (515kg) over an extra 100m.
In his hat-trick bid from as many starts on Feb 12, Flying Nemo was a little unlucky.
The gap that Kok wanted to take narrowed. When it opened and he got to use his whip, the bird had flown.
Pacific Angel had led from start to finish with a rather soft lead over the Poly 1,100m.
From the way he lunged to the winning post, Saturday’s Poly 1,200m in the $50,000 Class 4 Div 2 race will suit Flying Nemo to a T.
He worked exceptionally well on Tuesday morning under Raffles Cup-winning jockey Wong Chin Chuen, who is serving one-day suspension for careless riding.
Kok will again ride Flying Nemo and he knows the horse inside-out.
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