The well-backed Strong N Powerful stormed in from an untenable position to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in tthe $70,000 Class 3 race over 1400m at Kranji on Sunday.
At the point of the turn, the odds of the $28 favourite's backers recovering their investments looked a conservative twenty times that amount. Locked away on the rails and whipping up the rear, he had to really live up to his name and pass them all if he wanted to win, not to mention the extra daunting task of catching two rivals who had not spent a penny in transit.
After taking full advantage of leader Ironchamp (Krisna Thangamani) mis-striding at the home turn, Vittoria Perfetta (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) had the race all stitched up as he raced away at full pelt down the middle of the track, but Augustano (Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui) was not to be outdone as he snuck up from underneath him.
Judges were getting ready to work on a close two-way struggle, but soon had to call for the photo to split three across the track when out of nowhere from a backside-staring spot, Strong N Powerful came lunging late. Ducking and weaving, even shouldering his way past one runner - Trumpy (Oscar Chavez) - Strong N Powerful was the one who was always behind the eight ball, but somehow sprouted wings to find the line in the nick of time.
It was too close to call. Racing history buffs held their breath wondering if an extremely rare milestone could be in the offing - a first triple dead-heat in Singapore, but judges were eventually able to make out two pixels in semaphoring a clear-cut trifecta. On the outside, Strong N Powerful got up by a nose from Augustano on the inner, with Vittoria Perfetta the meat in the sandwich taking third place another nose away. Heartening Flyer (Shafrizal Saleh) also ran on but had to settle for fourth place another three parts of a length away.
The winner clocked 1min 23.94secs for the 1400m on the Short Couse. In chalking up five wins and six placings from 21 starts, Strong N Powerful has amassed close to $310,000 in stakes earnings for connections, the bulk of it pocketed by his previous owner, the Strong Stable.
At his first win for Kuah, who has been the trainer at his last five runs, the Golden Archer five-year-old was a regular Group raider who was unfortunately born in the same year as the freakish Inferno as evidenced by his couple of placings to the now Victorian-based galloper in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge. He also ran a meritorious sixth in last year's Singapore Gold Cup for his first handler Leticia Dragon before he was moved to Kuah via a brief stint with trainer Jerome Tan for two unplaced starts.
While the first four starts would not be worth writing home about, a less cursory check revealed the depth of the opposition. He didn't claim the scalps of Mr Malek, Tiger Roar or Big Hearted, but neither was he beaten out of his ground.
Kuah had been getting the lay of the land, and after a drop in both class and distance, the jockey-turned-trainer hit the jackpot in Sunday's event.
"I don't think he can run 1800m. I will keep him to 1400m to 1600m from now on," said Kuah, alluding to Strong N Powerful's sound defeat in a 1800m race at his last start.
That could be read as a line through a second stab at the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) on November 11, even if Kuah has kept the door cracked open.
"But that doesn't mean I won't run him over longer trips in the future, especially when some horses get older, they develop more stamina," said the Group 1-winning trainer (Forever Young in the 2017 Singapore Guineas).
"This horse has run among the best. It's his good record which partly explained why he was the favourite today.
"But at the top of the straight, I thought 'gone already'. No way he could win from there.
"Simon never gave up, though. It was a patient ride and well done to him."
