Team Pacific making waves

It was a morning when trainer David Kok gladly shared the spotlight with champion apprentice Jerlyn Seow and his staunch supporters, the Pacific Stable.

Together they dominated the flow and the finish of the two trials on April 4.

Pacific Emperor, with his high rating of 94, came through as expected and delivered a win in the opening hit-out.

But what was revealing was the performance put in by Pacific Scout in the second and last trial of the morning.

With nothing to show from eight outings on the racetrack and carrying a lowly rating of just 37 points, Pacific Scout surprisingly ambushed his rivals, even giving Seow a sedan-chair ride.

This is how it panned out.

After clearing the gates without much effort, Pacific Scout found the front and, from then, Seow had an unobstructed view of the scenery.

At the 600m mark, the pair were five lengths clear of Zyrul Nor Azman on Buuraq Sixty-One with Red Maned – ridden by Jaden Lloyd – holding his own in third spot and wondering what he had to do to reel in the leader.

He would eventually throw in the towel, preferring instead to allow Tigarous and Ben Wade to join Buuraq Sixty-One in harassing the leader.

While Buuraq Sixty-One did make some inroads when Seow eased down on Pacific Scout over the concluding stages, he never managed to clamp and collar the winner who won by 1½ lengths and in a mighty fine 59.87sec.

It was only the second time Pacific Scout had won an early morning hit-out and you would not blame Kok for thinking that it could be a sign of an impending win at the races.

Pacific Scout ran his best race when third to Otahuhu in an Open Maiden contest on March 2.

The Australian-bred son of Deep Field had gone into that race on the back of a good trial where he finished second to Eruption on Feb 22.

As for the also-rans, mention must go to the third-placed Tigarous who had the services of Brazilian hotshot Bruno Queiroz.

A veteran of 52 races, Tigarous finished off the trial with a flourish, coming from a long way back to slot in third.

Sure, he was eight lengths behind runner-up Buuraq Sixty-One but the 1,000m has never been his cup of tea.

Back to the Kok, Seow and the Pacific people show, the opening trial of the morning saw Pacific Emperor stamp his authority on his rivals.

Sure, Ghalib – with a high rating of 89 – proved to be an itch which would not go away.

With Manoel Nunes doing the navigating, Ghalib – who proved a handful being loaded into the gates – was brilliant out of the chute, and promptly dictated the pace and pattern of the trial.

But, inside the last 100m, in one sweeping move, Pacific Emperor collared the front runner to take the trial by a head.

If that was impressive stuff, what was more eye-catching was Pacific Emperor’s time for the sprint.

Even though he was only let loose close to home, the four-year-old clocked 59.13sec.

Yes, in Pacific Emperor, Kok has a flagbearer in his yard.

Third in the Group 3 New Year Cup (1,200m) on Jan 6 and fourth in the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1,400m) on Feb 11, the winner of six races – including the Group 3 Merlion Trophy (1,200m) on Oct 28 – he could easily add a couple more to the tally in the big races coming up.

Right now, Kok has him in a good place and the stars seem aligned for a good showing at his next start. Keep him on your radar.

brian@sph.com.sg