New stable, new heart

Big Hearted has picked the same race as Countofmontecristo, the $100,000 Class 1 race (1,200m) on Polytrack on Saturday, to get his racing juices flowing again.

Granted, the level of curiosity is higher for the multiple-Group-winning nine-year-old Count’s Lazarus-like resurrection after nearly three years in Australia.

Besides, Big Hearted has been out of sight for only seven months.

But the former Michael Clements-trained son of Hallowed Crown is just as well credentialled, if not better. He is a Singapore Gold Cup winner while Count has won up to Group 2 level.

On a heavy track on a wet November afternoon in 2020, Big Hearted landed from the clouds to snag one of Kranji’s most coveted prizes, handing then-apprentice Simon Kok a first Group 1 win.

Unfortunately, his form see-sawed after that. He added only one more win in a moderate Kranji Stakes B event five months later.

Save for the odd flashes of brilliance where the Big Hearted of old suddenly reproduced his trademark electric turn of foot down the straight, the runs were lacklustre.

He last ran in the 2022 Singapore Gold Cup (2,000m) in November, but just like at his defence title in 2021, he was among the also-rans.

With soundness issues acting up, Big Hearted had hit a crossroad. But, as he was only a sparingly raced six-year-old with a record of seven wins and eight placings from 26 starts, the Falcon Racing Stable had another roll of the dice.

They transferred him to James Peters, an interesting move considering that the Thai champion owner’s horses have come under trainers like Michael Clements, Donna Logan, Stephen Gray and Alwin Tan.

The English trainer was honoured to be picked, but was not getting too carried away, even if Big Hearted’s 88 rating will open up more options at the top echelon.

Peters’ only two horses above 80 before then were Grand Koonta (99) and Circuit Mission (87). But, though his yard is mostly filled with bread-and-butter sorts, he enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2022 with an eighth-placed finish on 27 winners.

The current season has been less prolific – nine winners at the halfway mark – but a high-profile stable transfer like Big Hearted can only be a positive, even if Peters remains guarded.

“He’s an older horse now and has had a few niggling injuries,” said Michael Freedman’s former assistant trainer. “So, we’ve taken our time with him.

“If he races well, we can look at the bigger targets later. If not, it’ll be hard to push on.

“We’ll see how he’s performing, how he’s holding up from his soundness issues.”

It was only after his new charge ticked all the boxes during the steady build-up that Peters put the screws on.

“He’s had a couple of trials in the last two weeks,” he said.

“Obviously, we gave him a quiet one at the first trial. Simon rode him then and said he felt fine.

“I’m happy to have Simon riding him tomorrow. He knows the horse well, he won the Gold Cup on him.

“He couldn’t ride him in the second trial. Vlad (Duric) got on, and I was really happy with that trial.

“He was miles back but he finished off very well.”

At the rear around 15 lengths off the leaders for most of the way, Big Hearted warmed up to the task only when Duric steered him to the outside upon straightening.

The speedier and fitter Lucky Jinsha and Rocket Star were beyond reach, but, though not really pushed out by Duric, Big Hearted still caught the eye with the fastest sectionals inside the last 200m.

He gobbled up stacks of ground to run fifth, under 10 lengths off the winner Lucky Jinsha.

Whether that burst will be good enough first-up against proven sprinters is a question mark.

He did win Polytrack sprints, but early on as a two-year-old.

But, more pointedly, he has a solid first-up record. On several occasions, he nearly won 1,200m races when fresh.

“We will start him back over 1,200m. It’s a bit sharp for him,” said Peters.

“There’s then a Class 2 race over 1,400m in four weeks’ time (July 23). We’ll take it one race at a time.

“He’s only coming back to the races, but he’s really fit. He’s not a heavy type of horse.

“He’s not quick enough, though, he doesn’t have race sharpness. But I hope he can finish off well.”