Prestige Star outshines novice rivals

On paper, rising from Class 5 to Novice company can be a tough task.

What more having to concede weight to higher-rated rivals and seeing a much-vaunted favourite standing in the way.

But you can never tell in horse racing. With luck, anything can happen.

You just have to be in it to win it.

Trainer Jason Ong’s slick debut winner Speedy Buck was all the rage at $7 for the win but his script did not have a fairytale ending.

He finished a dismal sixth of seven runners with champion jockey Manoel Nunes at the helm.

On the day, Lady Luck smiled on trainer Jason Lim’s Prestige Star. He was backing up, just seven days after his second placing in a $30,000 Class 5 race over the Polytrack 1,000m, in a strong $75,000 Novice affair over an extra 100m last Saturday.

Surprisingly, despite being the second-lowest rated, he carried the heaviest weight (57kg) but still won, albeit by the skin of his teeth.

Ridden by Penang-born jockey Shafrizal Saleh, Prestige Star ($24) gradually moved up from second-last on the shortest route to chase The Star, who had worn down the early leader Golden Sentience.

Midway into the straight, Prestige Star still had a couple of lengths to make up, but Shafrizal worked overtime to get his mount home by a nose in a pedestrian 1min 06.87sec.

“I wasn’t really sure I won, I thought maybe a deadheat,” said Shafrizal, who also claimed the final of 12 races on the James Peters-trained Cool Sixty-One to take his season’s tally to five wins.

He was second on Gamely (head), Zoffspeed (2¼ lengths) and Tony’s Love (head).

“We discussed and found that there were a few horses who might go forward. Nunes’ horse, the favourite, was among them. The plan was to let them go forward and we sit and wait.

“But the Polytrack that day was a bit tricky. It was newly topped up and was more suitable for the front runners. I thought I could not catch up, but my horse kept giving.

“I only knew I won when I saw it on the board. So happy I’m getting more support and better rides. Hopefully, this will continue.”

Lim conceded that it was not easy to go from Class 5 to Novice, but was glad to get the chocolates for the JJ Star Stable.

“I think it was quite a surprise to many people – from Class 5 to win a Novice,” said the Singaporean.

“Actually I wasn’t confident that he would win, but I was confident that he would come in a place. In that race, Speedy Buck was very good. I don’t know what happened to Speedy Buck, our horse got lucky and won the race which is good for the owners.

“It was a quick back-up within seven days, but he’s a very tough horse who can take a lot of work, so it wasn’t a matter of the back-up.”

Lim reckoned Prestige Star, who won his debut in January 2022 as War Commander when under Ricardo Le Grange, should have won his last start on April 1.

“But the 1,000m was a bit sharp for him. He didn’t have the pace to keep up and lost by a head (to Hyde Park), so we thought 1,100m Novice might be the race for him.

“The horse has been with me for some time and I am starting to know more about him. He will now be in Class 4.

“The horse wasn’t travelling well in the first three furlongs. I would reckon it was because of the blinkers, so I might request for the blinkers to be removed. I’ll take a look at the race video again.”

As for Speedy Buck, he appeared quirky and sweated a fair bit on the way to the start. He stopped, refused to budge and had to be led by a barrier attendant.

When questioned regarding the performance, Nunes said the horse was extremely agitated and very difficult to be ridden to the barriers.

He was able to settle the horse behind the lead and his mount travelled fairly through the early and middle stages.

But, when the tempo quickened passing the 600m mark, his mount failed to respond and did not run on when asked in the straight.

The veterinary surgeon reported no abnormality, but the stewards deemed the performance to be unsatisfactory.

They advised Ong that Speedy Buck must pass a 1,000m gallop trial from the barrier to their satisfaction.