Second time’s the Charm for Kok

Even if David Kok was not on hand to welcome his first-ever Malaysian winner at Sungai Besi on Nov 17, he was just delighted Pacific Charm has helped him finally tick that box.

The Ipoh-born Singaporean was the first former Kranji trainer – among six, including the likes of Richard Lim, Mahadi Taib, Alwin Tan – to saddle runners across the border since the closure on Oct 5.

Fittingly, Pacific Charm was the very first horse to go around under his banner at his Kuala Lumpur debut on Oct 26, albeit with no fairy-tale ending after he beat one home.

Tellingly, his subsequent 10 runners – all owned by Pacific Stable – over the next five meetings also ran accordingly, until a much-improved Pacific Charm turned stable hero in the penultimate race of the Nov 17 meeting, the RM25,000 (S$7,500) Class 5A (1,200m).

Speaking just after landing in New Zealand where he is attending the Karaka Ready to Run breeze-up sale on Nov 20 and 21, Kok was glad his hunch that he would break the duck proved correct.

No doubt, the milestone was nowhere near his history-making feat on Oct 5, when he not only captured the last Singapore Gold Cup in the 182 years of Singapore racing with long shot Smart Star, but also its very last race.

But it was still another feather to his cap at the dawn of this new chapter of his 16-year-long training career.

“It’s my very first Malaysian winner. Even when I was still training in Singapore, I never sent any horses up North,” he said.

“I’m very happy, even if I watched the race on TV. I couldn’t be there as I had to fly back to Singapore to take a plane to New Zealand on Sunday.

“I’d like to thank Pacific’s owner Jimmy Poh for his support, and the Selangor Turf Club for opening their doors to me.”

Kok said the longer time to settle in for both horses and himself was the key to the breakthrough.

“I was in and out at first as I had to go back to Singapore to oversee the transportation of the remaining horses from Kranji,” he said.

“But most of them are in KL now, with the last batch of seven arriving today.

“So, I’ve been in KL in the last two weeks before I returned to Singapore for the New Zealand trip.

“I’d say the horses who’ve already had one run are also more used to the track now, like Pacific Charm.

“At his first run in KL, he was lost. I actually thought all three horses would run well yesterday after they all had one run under the belt.

“The first two (Pacific Angel and Pacific Hero) lost, but luckily, the last one won.”

Pacific Charm is actually a horse he is not very familiar with, as he was previously trained by two-time Singapore champion trainer Jason Ong (who is also relocating to Kuala Lumpur), for whom he won four of his five Kranji wins.

The Maurice six-year-old won his first race for trainer Michael Clements in 2022, when then known as Lucky Charm, one of the pioneering horses of the now sprawling Pacific Stable empire.

While he is no model of consistency, he tends to regain form when allowed to stride forward, which he did at his latest success.

He jumped the best for Tham Kim Chong before handing up the lead to newcomer Handsome Joyful (Jackson Low Kang Cheng).

A patient Tham waited until the top of the straight to pop the question, which Pacific Charm answered with a brilliant turn of foot.

Favourite Lim’s Sinai (Uzair Sharudin) launched his assault three wide but had to settle for second place 1¼ lengths away.

Former Macau galloper Handsome Joyful did well for a first outing to hold on for third place another 3/4 lengths away.

Now that worry is behind him, Kok is not resting on his laurels. Sales is one of the ways forward if a trainer wants to stay relevant, especially in a new jurisdiction.

“I’ve been to Karaka may times. I love this sale, I bought Well Done there,” said Kok in reference to his 2016 Singapore Derby winner, arguably the best horse he has put a bridle on.

“I hope to buy at least one horse. I will as usual try to get something as cheap as possible, but, hopefully, with some quality.”

Smart Star’s arrival from Kranji last week has, for one, raised the KL stable’s quality quotient, but Kok may have to hold his fire with the stable hero.

“I had planned the Piala Emas on Dec 1 for him, but he had a sore hoof,” he said.

“He’s back in work, but whether he can recover in time, we’ll see.”

The Group 1 Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (2,000m) is the last feature race on the Malaysian calendar before the season draws to a close on Dec 28.

manyan@sph.com.sg