One of last season’s winningest horses, Entertainer, makes his 2022 seasonal bow under the guidance of a new trainer in Donna Logan this Saturday.
The New Zealander welcomed lock, stock and barrel all the 21 horses from fellow countryman Mark Walker's main allies, Te Akau Racing and Fortuna NZ Racing Stables when the four-time Singapore champion trainer suddenly returned to New Zealand to continue his feted training career at the end of last year.
Logan had never trained for the two powerhouse outfits (incidentally, whose tangerine silks are almost similar in their designs, but bear no business links), be it in Singapore or New Zealand where she figured among the leading trainers for 30 years before her relocation to Kranji in 2018, but certainly relished the opportunity as she got off to a flier with a winner for Fortuna and John Galvin, King Arthur at the opening day on Sunday.
Entertainer was 'top of the pops' for Fortuna in 2021 with his six career wins scooped up that year, for the season's highest score which he shared with lofty company, multiple-Group 1 winner Lim's Lightning and smart sprinter Kharisma.
Needless to say, Logan would like to see the Zoustar five-year-old carry on with the same zest seamlessly, but is conscious Saturday's $70,000 Class 3 race over 1100m might be a trappy affair.
At his last-start win, Entertainer did salute when risen in grade to Class 2, but he had only 48.5kgs on his back and scraped home by a short head.
This time, as a class dropper, he is logically slapped with 20 pounds more, but Logan's apprentice jockey Yusoff Fadzli's three-kilo claim will come in handy. The handicapping is, however, not the only pitfall weighing on her mind.
"It's always tougher when you go up in weights, and that's why we decided to give him an apprentice claim for that little bit of weight relief," said Logan.
"He's ultra-consistent and we'll find out a lot more tomorrow. As we all know, he's well proven and performed, I'm very happy with his condition going into that race, and I'm keen to see him turn it on again.
"All of Mark's horses have come to us well prepared. It doesn't take five minutes to bring them on, and we just to have to maintain them in good shape.
"He's a horse who goes with the pace as we all know, but he's drawn wide (10) and I also have The Big Easy, who also likes to go forward.
"Obviously, I don't want them to cut each other's throat. Entertainer may have to take a sit back with The Big Easy drawn better (four)."
For all the carefully crafted battle plan, it could all go awry with another even more fleet-footed customer jumping out of the gates.
"There'll be plenty of speed in the race. Ironchamp may want to lead, too," she said.
"If that is the case, Shafiq, who has a good feel of The Big Easy, may have to grab hold from the start."
The son of Super Easy may be seven, but it's taken a long time to curb his reefing-and-tearing habits. Four of his five wins were recorded in his favourite 'hold no prisoners' style of making play upfront, but Logan is persuaded he has mended his ways.
"The Big Easy has settled nicely now, we can drop him and place him better now as he doesn't rip along like he used to," she said.
