Roughies roar in Year of the Tiger
Tony’s Love and Blue Idol start the day with three-figure upsets in first two races at Kranji
Sure, it was not the ideal way to start off the Year Of The Tiger. But hey, in this sport, one man’s roughie is always another man’s winner.
Yesterday at the Kranji Racecourse, the first two races at the Lunar New Year meeting produced stunning upsets.
Both times, it was trainer Ricardo Le Grange who saddled the winners who broke the hearts of favourite backers.
First off on a hot and sunny Wednesday afternoon was Tony’s Love, who put up a terrific show to open the proceedings with a fighting win over the 1,600m on the Polytrack.
Well done if you backed him, as you would have padded up your wallet substantially as Tony’s Love paid a nice $118 for the win and $28 for the place.
Ridden a masterful race by the veteran Danny Beasley, Tony’s Love beat Poroshiri by a shorthead with the punters’ pal Manoel Nunes having to settle for third on Sun Palace.
As for the favourite, Gold Kingdom, he had to be content with fourth spot after looking prominent until the business end of things when he was swarmed by the top three.
A four-year-old who began his Kranji career in August 2020, Tony’s Love opened his account last September.
That win was on the grass. Yesterday, Tony’s Love handled the Polytrack in style.
It is this versatility which should see him claim more races in the long season ahead.
If the majority of racegoers felt lighter in the pocket after that hard-to-find winner in the first, they would have carried even longer faces when the two favourites in the second event – Dixit Dominus and Bingo Master – had to settle for fifth and fourth respectively.
That said, if you were a fan of Le Grange and if you carried a soft spot for our old champion Rocket Man, you might have been one of those with sentimental money riding on Blue Idol who eventually stole the glory in Race 2.
Ridden by 2kg claimer Krisna Thangamani, Blue Idol was neglected in the betting and returned a thumping $175 for the win.
Unsighted in the early part of the 1,400m on the Long Course, Blue Idol still had a posse of runners ahead of him when the field flattened out for the run home.
That was when Krisna earned his dues.
Sixth at the 300m mark, Krisna asked him for an effort and Blue Idol was up to the challenge.
Taking the bit between his teeth, the Argentinian-bred youngster produced a barnstorming run over the final 300m to beat Deception, who returned $19 for the place and Nineoneone who paid $64 on the place.
Just for the record, the one thing that links the young three-year-old Blue Idol to the great Rocket Man, is that man Alfredo Crabbia.
Crabbia, who provided the Kranji faithful with so many wonderful memories when his wonder horse ruled not so many years ago, is also the owner of Blue Idol.
We wish him the best with his youngster, who saluted with plenty of authority.
The favourites would come later in the programme and the one who would have brought on the most cheers would have been Mortal Engine.
Sent over the 1,100m sprint on the Polytrack, he had too much in the tank and his one-length win was better than it looked on paper.
Trained by Michael Clements and ridden by Man Of The Moment, Nunes, Mortal Engine paid $8 for the win.
Perhaps significantly, Mortal Engine brought up a treble for Nunes who, earlier in the day, won on Luck Of Master ($22) in the third race and Lucky Imperator ($9) in the fifth.
Nunes made it four when scoring on Illustrious in the last.
For him, it was a case of making up for lost time. The Brazilian, a three-time champion jockey here, had to sit out the last meeting due to a one-day suspension.
It must now seem like a blip on his impressive resume.
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