Sweat and tears for chalice of Gold

If you are reading this, chances are you have your plans for Saturday all figured out.

After an early lunch – or brunch – you will be heading to the Kranji racecourse where the Singapore Gold Cup is to be run at 5.20pm.

There, you will probably hang around the mounting yard, drooling over those equine marvels as they parade before the big event.

By then, you would have also placed your bets, slips safely residing in your shirt pocket.

Later, when the race is run and depending on how your luck holds, you would either be smiling from ear to ear or mope at the thought of it going down the drain.

You will then head home and for you, another Gold Cup race would have been over and done with. Sunday will be just another day.

But what about the other “players”? The ones whose bread and butter depend on how fast and far their horses can go on four legs.

They are the trainers, jockeys and stable staff.

Down to a man, they will be up and about bright and early on Sunday morning to work towards the next – and unfortunately, last – Singapore Gold Cup.

For them, there are the four “P’s”. Preparation. Performance. Patience. Prestige.

To the rest of us, these are mere words. But to the main players in this racing spectacle, it is part of their DNA. Invisible. Indispensable. Inseparable.

Down to a player, they know that they have to be patient. Because if the preparation is thorough and the performance is top notch, prestige will follow.

That is the challenge that a handicap race like the Singapore Gold Cup throws up every year. It is such that any runner can win.

The jewel in Kranji’s crown is worth the blood, sweat and some tears.

Trainer Daniel Meagher knows all about it. He saddled Lim’s Lightning to win the 2021 edition and, this year, he holds the whip hand with the topweight Lim’s Kosciuszko. He also has a second stringer in Saturno Spring.

Meagher and his team got snookered by Hongkong Great in the recent Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1,800m) and it was back to the drawing board. He will be hoping the cards fall his way and the $1 million Singapore Gold Cup (2,000m) is run to suit.

Trainer David Kok dreams about it. Ever since Pacific Emperor joined his yard in September, the ever-smiling horseman has had visions of himself lifting the trophy.

We cannot blame him. With six wins from eight runs, Pacific Emperor has been a money machine for his owners, the Pacific Stable, and while this will be his first crack at the 2,000m, his come-from-behind style of racing should see him gobbling up the extra distance.

He won the Merlion Trophy (1,200m) on Oct 28 and is holding that form.

Steven Burridge has Invincible Tycoon in the race and he will be on course, dressed to the nines and harbouring big hopes for his five-year-old.

Burridge took the 2010 Gold Cup with Risky Business. It has been a long wait between drinks but Invincible Tycoon could give him reason to bring out the bubbly.

Same, too, for Tim Fitzsimmons. He has four in the line-up, with his main hope being Dream Alliance, who picked up a cheque on Oct 14.

Ricardo Le Grange tasted Gold Cup success when Hongkong Great won the 2022 renewal under Mark Zahra, who rode back-to-back Melbourne Cup winners on Tuesday.

Le Grange is on a hot streak, having masterminded a coup with Hongkong Great in the QE II Cup. He has a lively one in Maxima, who should gobble up the 2,000m like a bulldog devouring a steak.

Yes, we have a terrific field of runners lined up for the penultimate running of this time-honoured classic.

Then the riders. It is not for nothing that, pound for pound, they are the toughest athletes in sport.

And in a race like this where there is weaving and bobbing, slashing and urging, panic and derring-do, the jockey must become a master at multi-tasking.

Barring a deadheat, come Saturday, only one trainer will saddle the winner and only one of these brave jockeys will ride that winner.

The final act will happen right in front of the grandstand where they will have their pictures taken with the horse, the syce and jubilant owners. What a thrill it must be.

So join in and raise a cheer. Punch the air. Wave like crazy.

That done, take a look at the beaten brigade.

Shoulders slouched, the riders will drag their feet to the jockey’s room – lamenting what it could have been.

Unceremoniously, the horses will be led back to their stables. Heads hung low, they will be sweating and heaving from the exertion.

Then and there, you must do your part. Rise from your seats and give them a round of applause.

Blow them a kiss and give them all – especially the one who placed second – a rousing send-off for a job well done.

Because, like the winner of Saturday’s Singapore Gold Cup, the runner-up and the rest would have just run the race of their lives.

brian@sph.com.sg