Tim Fitzsimmons keeps stamping himself as one of the young trainers to watch in Singapore after he saddled another double on Sunday.
Cliff Brown's former right-hand man may not have superstars – yet – in his stable, but he has already sprung to sixth place on the log on 19 winners, only one winner outside the Top 5 (with fifth-placed Hideyuki Takaoka on 20 winners).
The Australian has literally exploded onto the scene this year, in stark contrast to his muted start in 2019 when he ended the year with no winner, improving just marginally at his sophomore year with five winners.
After a training double with his staunchest supporter Buffalo Stable's Hero and Nate Stable's Nate's Honour last week, Illustrious kept up the momentum to Lucky Unicorn Stable's Lucky Jinsha's opening salvo in Sunday's first race.
At only his fifth start, the grey four-year-old Illustrious was probably the one that gave Fitzsimmons a little bit more of a kick for sentimental reasons after he led from the start for Oscar Chavez in the $75,000 Novice race over the Polytrack 1200m.
The $30 shot defeated Everest by one length with Greatham Girl (Shafrizal Saleh) third another half-length win away. The winning time was 1min 11.92secs for the Polytrack 1200m.
"Cliff is a part-owner of Illustrious with Buffalo Stable, my main supporter. So it's great to train a winner for the old boss," said Fitzsimmons.
"It's the first time Illustrious has drawn a barrier. He's been in double-digit barriers most of the time.
"He was unlucky at his last start, but today from barrier one, he had a lovely run and was ridden to perfection by Oscar Chavez.
"We waited for the Novice race rather than the Class 4 race as we thought it would suit him better. He looked like he was getting a bit tired in the end, which is odd as he had 43 days between runs, but Oscar said he was still learning.
"He said he had to wake him up and luckily, he got the job done."
In the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over the Polytrack 1200m, $12 favourite Lucky Jinsha (Hakim Kamaruddin) didn't need any reminder to keep his mind on the job, looking like he was more in auto-pilot mode for most of the way.
Despite travelling one-off outside leader Extra Win (Saifudin Ismail) after leaving the machine from barrier No 12, the Shooting To Win four-year-old was coasting, appearing to be toying with the opposition as he cornered for the judge.
Once Hakim set him alight, the race was all over in the blink of an eye as he went on to lap his rivals without being over exerted.
Outsider Captain Singapore (Chavez) was the first among the beaten brigade seven lengths away with Per Incrown (Troy See) in third place another 2 ½ lengths away. The winning time was 1min 11.26secs for the Polytrack 1200m.
"Lucky Jinsha continues to impress me. I really don't know where his limit is," said Fitzsimmons.
"He shocked me with the big margin. He's a nice horse."
Illustrious, whose first name was Gunga Galunga, has already made more than $30,000 for the Buffalo Stable from his first win and previous one second and two thirds.
On the other hand, Lucky Jinsha has only around $24,000 in stakes earnings for the Lucky Unicorn Stable even though he has picked up two wins from 10 starts, but understandably so given his two wins came in Class 5 company.
The Hong Kong outfit went on to have a good day at the office at Kranji when they brought up a double with trainer Tan Kah Soon's $39 shot Huntsman (Marc Lerner) in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 race over 1200m seven races later.
