Racing: Fuku Ichiban in swift show

Racing: Fuku Ichiban in swift show

SINGAPORE - On a morning when six trials were run at the Kranji Racecourse, FUKU ICHIBAN was a most impressive winner when he took Trial 4.

He showed his rivals a clean pair of heels out of the gates and barely had they made that left hand turn on the far side when he opened a four-length lead over the not-tooshabby Aces High, a last-start winner, and Sugar Man.

With KT Cheng sitting comfortably in the saddle and not doing a thing with the persuader, Fuku Ichiban (right) kept up a brisk pace. While clearly intent on taking the shortest route home, he went - maybe - too short when they straightened and, in the process sent one of the cones flying. It just missed Aces High.

Fuku Ichiban was six or maybe even seven lengths clear with 200m to go and he coasted in by almost five lengths. The Patrick Shaw pair of Sugar Man (Barend Vorster) and Aces High (H Amin) took second and third.

The winner clocked a smart time of 60.17sec for the 1,000m. Indeed, had Cheng not applied the brakes over the final 100m, Fuku Ichiban would have ducked under the one-minute mark.

A six-year-old with 43 runs, he was a winner in April, beating His My Idol over the 1,400m on the turf. In total, he has won five times and his last two runs have been full of merit.

On June 9, he tried to make all the running but was caught by OM over the 1,400m trip.

Five weeks later, he failed by ½ length to catch Californian Girl over the flying 1,000m on the Polytrack.

Prepared by HT Tan for King Villa Stable, Fuku Ichiban must go into your notebook as a horse to follow in his next start.

YESTERDAY'S TRIAL RESULTS:

TRIAL 1

1 Boomerang Deluxe (M Nunes) 2 Cash Advance (J Powell) 3 Lord Gratham (I Andy) 4 King Of Koon (R Lim) 5 Yardbird (TH Koh) 6 Lucky Lamborgini (A Munro) 7 Capricci Prince (M Kellady). Margins and time: Hd, 3, 3¼, 6½, ¾, 53½ (1min 01.04sec).

TRIAL 2

1 Premier Grade (H Amin) 2 Dark Express (Kellady) 3 D'Don (Nunes) 4 Any Choice (Y Ruzaili) 5 Acordo De Paz (B Vorster) 6 Home Money Home (KB Soo) 7 Chi Lin (B Beasley) 8 Speed Mission (Munro). Margins and time: ¾, 2, 3¼, 3½, 1¼, ¾, 5¼ (1:01.28).

TRIAL 3

1 Demand (J Moreira) 2 Fountain (Soo) 3 Silveron Warrior (H Syafiq) 4 Good Buddy (S Sam) 5 Debonair (LQ Kek) 6 Gene (B Nazwan) 7 Home Daddy Home (Nunes) 8 Sarong (M Suhaimi). Margins and time: 6¾, 1½, nk, ½, ½, ½, ½ (1:01.72).

TRIAL 4

1Fuku Ichiban (KT Cheng) 2 Sugar Man (Vorster) 3 Aces High (Amin) 4 Pint Sized Prince (S Noh) 5 Yes Baba (Moreira) 6 El Perigo (A Syahir) 7 Amazon Boy (Kek). Margins and time: 4¾, ½, nk, 2½, ¾, 11½ (1:00.17).

TRIAL 5

1 Valevole (Vorster) 2 Bale Star (Moreira) 3 Dragon (Beasley) 4 Fly Freely (Kek) 5 Jet Stream (Saifudin) 6 Bigdinero (Suhaimi) 7 Daring Fighter (WL Tan). Margins and time: Nk, 2¾, ½, 1, ½, 22½ (1:02.71).

TRIAL 6

1 Red River Rock (Vorster) 2 I-Scream Now (Soo) 3 Stride Meteor (Moreira) 4 Zafonic Star (Amin) 5 Lady Trio (Rehaizat) 6 Andiko (Noh). Margins and time: 1½, ns, nk, 4, hd (1:01.80).


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