SINGAPORE- Longines Singapore Gold Cup beaten favourite WILD GEESE bounced back from the 2,200m disappointment to capture a Progress sprint over 1,200m in Race 7 at Kranji yesterday.
Helped by a brisk pace - with Alan, Desert Fox and Listen disputing the lead - the Steven Burridge-trained five-year-old English-bred showed a good turn of foot in the final 250m to fly home and beat Listen by one and a half lengths.
Desert Fox, the $11 favourite, finished third, a length behind.
Although he was coming back in distance and having his first race since his Gold Cup fifth last November, Wild Geese was supported as the $16 second favourite in the seven-horse race.
The New Paper on Sunday tipster Larry Foley was spot-on, as the winner was his headline bet.
Foley noted that the horse had been freshened up for the sprint and "looked a good thing on weights".
How true.
Burridge said that Wild Geese was well in with 54kg after champion apprentice A'Isisuhairi Kasim's 1kg claim.
CLASS HORSE
"He's the class horse and he's well weighted,' said the 2010 Singapore champion trainer.
"We thought he was fit enough to run the 1,200m and the race was run to suit him, and the boy rode him very well."
A'Isisuhairi felt Wild Geese gave him a good ride throughout.
"He ran very well. Look, as we know, he's quite a nice horse," he said.
"Even before the race, I knew he would be too good for this field.
"The distance was probably a bit too short for him but he won over 1,200m in his first start here and also over 1,400m. He's very, very special.
"He jumped well and relaxed. The pace was nice and suited him. He travelled well, but he's a bit more of a stayer and it took him a while to get going and, when he got into gear, he kept going. He still had plenty in the tank and I'm sure he'll go over more distance."
DEEP END
Owned by Dr Tan Kai Chah of Hippocrates Stable, Wild Geese won his first two starts, over 1,200m on the Polytrack and over 1,400m on turf.
The bay gelding was then thrown into the deep end, running in four Group events. He was was seventh in the Group 2 Stewards' Cup over 1,400m, fifth in the Group 1 Patron's Bowl over 1,600m, second in the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby over 2,000m and then fourth in the Group 2 Chairman's Trophy over 1,800m.
After that, he had four more starts for a third in the Group 1 Raffles Cup over 1,800m, which earned him favouritism in the Gold Cup.
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