The saying “when it rains, it pours” certainly applies to Sacred Judgement after he made it four on the bounce in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1400m on Saturday.
Though the former Tony Pike-trained gelding landed with a smart record of two wins from only four starts in New Zealand, he never quite lived up to that promise after the Raffles Racing Stable sent him to Mark Walker's yard in 2019.
Save for the odd flash of brilliance, Sacred Judgement flattered to deceive as he went through his first 15 starts at Kranji without greeting the judge, but deep into his second prep, he suddenly woke up on August 8 when he finally cracked it for his first Singapore win in a Class 4 race over six furlongs.
Now racing under the Remarkable Stable banner following Raffles Racing's exit, Sacred Judgement had to defy the scepticism it could be just one of those fluke wins some Class 4 gallopers are no stranger to. Doubters were silenced with three more in quickfire succession, including the one on Saturday.
A textbook ride from Walker's apprentice jockey Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui also played its part in extending the hot streak, not to mention a handy draw in three.
One of the quickest away, Sacred Judgement ($16) was prominent early as he went vying for the rails run before handing up the lead to the speedier Royalty (Koh Teck Huat).
From there, Seow just bided her time before peeling off Royalty's heels upon straightening as the fast-fading Sun Palace (Shafrizal Saleh) rolled off. Full credit to Royalty, still chasing his first win after 12 starts, for not surrendering over a furlong, but the momentum was always going to swing Sacred Judgement's way as he went to hit the post with three-quarter length to spare from Royalty, who was gallant in defeat and won't be a maidener for too long.
Four-win bidder Marc Lerner tried hard on Gold City but had to settle for a treble (won earlier aboard Billy Elliot, St Alwyn and Larry) as they clocked in third another half-length away. The winning time was 1min 24.09secs for the 1400m on the Short Course.
The well-fancied The Executioner (Danny Beasley) enjoyed a lovely rails-hugging run behind Sacred Judgement, but although he seemed to have lost his pitch a little on his approach to the home straight, he was one-paced when it mattered. He took fourth place another two lengths away.
With that fourth win from 19 starts that also produced four seconds and two thirds, Sacred Judgement has now banked in around $135,000 in prizemoney for the Remarkable Stable.
"Sacred Judgement had some feet problems but they seem to have come good. He has hit a purple patch of form," said Walker.
"He's in such a good form, I will just keep running him. I'll probably find a Class 3 race for him next."
Walker also had words of praise for Seow, arguably second in the pecking order to his boom apprentice Hakim Kamaruddin, who has all but claimed his first Singapore champion apprentice jockey title, but who was serving the first half of a two-day suspension on Saturday.
The Malaysian rider, who claims two kilos, actually partnered Sacred Judgement at his last win, but Seow has proven she could be up to the task. Incidentally, the Sacred Judgement win brought up her 10th, a milestone that sees her lose one kilo from her four-kilo allowance, not something that would slow her down, according to her master.
"Jerlyn rode him well today. She loses one kilo of claim after that as she was at her 10th win," said Walker.
"Three kilos are still good. She has really made rapid progress in the last three months."
With a training double following his earlier win on King Arthur (Shafiq Rizuan, $13) in the $20,000 Maiden race over 1200m taking his score to 57 winners, Walker has now extended his lead in the Singapore trainers' premiership to seven winners on Clements (50 wins).
As has been the trend in recent weeks, the defending champion saddled only one runner on Saturday, Shepherd's Hymn (John Sundradas) who could only manage a third place to the Steven Burridge-trained Tiger Leap (A'Isisuhairi Kasim, $31) in the last race, the $50,000 Class 4 race over the mile.
