Polytrack specialist Entertainer has not taken long to get back into the spotlight.
A weakening seventh at his debut for trainer Donna Logan in a Class 3 event over his pet trip of 1100m (all previous six wins over that distance when then trained by Mark Walker) three weeks ago, the Zoustar five-year-old was attempting to restore some gloss in Saturday's $85,000 Class 2 race, again over 1100m, but up in grade.
Entertainer was indeed in for some serious challenge from quality mares Celavi and Ararat Lady, and even equally fleet-footed stablemate Makkem Lad, but with only 50kgs on his back, the Fortuna NZ Racing Stable-owned galloper was the one who came up trumps.
First-time partner A'Isisuhairi Kasim utilised Entertainer's natural speed to latch onto the even quicker Makkem Lad (Yusoff Fadzli) for the bulk of the race before turning it up at the corner.
The two Logans' levelled off briefly, but Entertainer quickly put Makkem Lad in the shade while Ararat Lady (Wong Chin Chuen) was lurking out wide, but not the more fancied mare Celavi (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin), who, for an all-weather lover, was looking rather plain despite a charmed run on the rails.
Under A'Isisuhairi's urgings, Entertainer ($66) kept pulling plenty while Ararat Lady's run seemed to be coming to an end. Three parts of a length split them at the post with Darc Bounty (Zyrul Nor Azman) third another half-length away.
The winning time was 1min 4.39secs for the Polytrack 1100m.
Logan, who had a third runner in Zac Kasa (Mohd Zaki), a moderate fifth just under six lengths off, was delighted to bring another winner for John Galvin of Fortuna NZ Racing.
"It's great to get another winner for Fortuna. John has been a big supporter of Singapore racing for a long time," said Logan, who became both the New Zealand outfit's and behemoth owner Te Akau's new trainer at Kranji after four-time Singapore champion trainer Mark Walker returned home in December.
"He looks after his owners from all walks of life from New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore so well. He's always giving them reports and updates about their horses.
"Entertainer's work has been very good, and that first run under the belt makes a hell of a difference.
"I told Harry in the parade ring if he could make it three in a row (after winning on Circuit Mission and Sayonara) or he'd already used all his luck! I just told him to let the horse stride along and not to panic if someone else is faster, just sit behind the speed.
"I must say he was quite handy, as I thought Celavi would lead, but you just never know in racing.
"There was plenty of pace, and Entertainer kept coming over strong, he finished off very strong."
A toiling sixth from her better-fancied runner Makkem Lad on the Polytrack surface did leave Logan with a bit of a bittersweet taste, though.
"I really had no confidence at all about Makkem Lad on Polytrack before the race. He does not handle it as well as he did in the past, and we saw that today," she said.
Entertainer has now taken his record to seven wins and two thirds from 15 starts for prizemoney that has gone past the $235,000 mark for Fortuna NZ Racing Stable.
With his almost flawless record on Polytrack, the Group 3 Merlion Trophy (1200m) would have been the legitimate end-goal for Entertainer (stunningly opted out of the 2021 renewal in November), except it won't be coming up so soon.
With fixtures now established by financial year, the next Merlion Trophy is scheduled for February 4, 2023, meaning the only Polytrack feature on the Singapore racing calendar won't be staged this season.
"It'll be very difficult to find a race for Entertainer now that the Merlion Trophy is a long way away," said Logan.
"I haven't really looked at the programme for what's available. We'll enjoy today's win for now."
