World Cup: Two legs good, four legs better?
PUBLISHED ONJune 13, 2014 9:00 PM
For World Cup 2010, The New Paper used Mani the parakeet, which became a worldwide sensation with his picks.
At the European Championships in 2012, we featured arowanas Big Huat and Little Huat, who were trained to knock food out of a container to make their choices.
This time around, get set to hear it straight from the horses' mouths.
Meet the "Neighsayers", The New Paper's animal psychics for World Cup 2014.
TNP deputy editor S Murali said: "In 2012, it was the year of the dragon, so we had 'dragon fish' arowanas help us pick the winners. This time around, it's the year of the horse, so we asked for help from our partners at the Singapore Turf Club (STC) to make these predictions possible."
The process of picking a winner is straightforward.
Two horses are pitted against each other in a 200-metre sprint, their allegiance reflected in the football jerseys worn by the jockeys.
A third jockey will sport a neutral jersey and if his horse finishes first, the prediction for that match is a draw.
NO HORSING AROUND
The horses are slated to pick the outcomes of 14 fixtures during the tournament - five group matches, four round-of-16 games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final.
STC vice-president (corporate services) Simon Leong said: "When we were approached by TNP to allow them to use our horses to predict the outcomes for the World Cup matches, we felt that this was a fun and novel way to do so."
He added: "Since this is the year of the horse, I suppose this is the most obvious animal to use as compared to fishes or parrots."
So, on a blazing hot Wednesday afternoon, we handed our equine friends their first test: Brazil versus Croatia.
On the Brazilian side is Giggler, a 13-year-old gelding who found himself up against "Croatian" Haizum, a six-year-old, with the neutral, five-year-old Emblessed.
Age proved to be no handicap, as Giggler took an early lead and went on to be first past the post. Searing heat? No sweat.
So there you have it, the first prediction from our "Neighsayers" - the Samba Boys are going to beat Croatia tomorrow morning (Singapore time).
Have a galloping good time
I never met a racehorse I didn't like - until yesterday, that is.
At Kranji, where the horse is not so much a way of life but a reason for breathing, I came up close and personal with three creatures whose sole purpose in life for the next four weeks will be to make me look bad.
Among other things, I am a racing tipster, which means I attempt to figure out the top racehorse in every race run at the Kranji Racecourse.
Now, and all of a sudden, the roles are reversed.
Because this is the Year Of The Horse, we, their masters, are going to have the horses "tip" the winners of selected matches of the 2014 World Cup. And the most damning part of the exercise is that I am up against them.
Well, not that I am new to such match-ups. Neigh - and that's horse talk - I've done it before.
In 2010, they had me go nose to beak with a parakeet named Mani. Just so the horses know, Mani started out all preened and pretty. He picked some winners and became a Serangoon Road sensation. It probably got to his head.
By the time Spain lifted the trophy, I had ruffled his feathers, and he ended up looking like an absolute bird brain.
Then, at Euro 2012, they put me up against champion arowanas named Big Huat and Little Huat.
Huat the fish? Get it? With whiskers that extended to nowhere, they looked dead serious. Indeed, after four weeks, I had them pleading to be filleted and fried.
Those were small fry. Now I'm eyeballing creatures who tip the scales at around 480kg. I met them yesterday. Giggler, Emblessed and Haizum. Did they scare me?
Well, Emblessed looked as hard as a tractor's tyre. Giggler resembled a quiet assassin and Haizum, for all his gentleness, had a mean eye which I read to be disillusions of grandeur.
But I will add, he did look compact - like Messi.
To cut to the chase, horses are great to look at. But sometimes, beneath that sensational frame, there could be major flaws which we don't know about.
Like yesterday, on the Polytrack, I stared each of them in the eye but I ended up still not knowing what they were thinking. I call it the dumb look.
That's what I am banking on. The question is, are you willing to take a chance when Giggler, Emblessed and Haizum pick their match winners?
Will you be trooping down to your nearest betting outlet to plonk good money on what a horse tells you?
While you're mulling over that, let me tell you what seasoned horse players have known all along - that the racehorse tends to make fools of those who take it too seriously.
That said, the World Cup is serious enough. So what we are experimenting with is pure fun. Brian versus beast.
Like yesterday, the horses spoke - picking Brazil to beat Croatia, which is what the bookmakers expect anyway.
It's what I am predicting too.
Could we all be wrong? Who knows? Could happen. That's the beauty of sport. It defies good sense.
So, in the coming weeks, don't take us too seriously. Have fun.
I know I will - even if I have to get kicked in the pants by creatures I so love.
This article was first published on June 12, 2014.
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