Singapore Racing: Conflight Ready For New Take-Off

Jockey Oscar Chavez has every faith resuming sprinter Conflight can go quicker than the 38 he can’t even produce in his gallops this Sunday.

Or else, anything less (38 seconds in 600m) would see the pair getting a full view of many backsides in the $80,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1000m on Polytrack.

Chavez has been gearing up the horse he partnered to a daring all-the-way win in the Group 3 Dester Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1200m) last March, but said if he had to take a line through his work when he is on his lonesome, that “lazy bugger” would be in serious trouble.

“He’s always been a very lazy bugger. If you work him alone, he can’t even do 38!”  said Chavez in half-jest. “But it’s a different story in a race, of course.

“He’s had three decent barrier trials and in one of them, he kicked by five lengths but as soon as I dropped my hands, he dropped the bit and stopped as if waiting for the other horses to come up to him.”

The Panamanian jockey will no doubt make sure such a scenario does not occur on Sunday, and couldn’t have been happier when the Host four-year-old drew an alley.

“He’s got fantastic gate speed and he showed it in his trials again. Barrier No 1 is just nice for him,” he said.

“Obviously, he’s only about 85% fit after an eight-month layoff, but even if he may not win first-up, I’m sure he won’t disappoint.

“Coming back for a first run, 1000m is just nice, but I think 1200m is his best distance.”

Conflight was actually tested over further at his last prep, but the results have been below expectations, though trainer Alwin Tan said he had excuses.

The Malaysian-owned bay stunned pundits when he outgunned better-fancied three-year-olds in the first Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge over 1200m, but then went awry at the next two Legs, the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic over 1400m and the Group 1 Singapore Guineas over the mile, coming home a distance last in the latter, his last Kranji appearance on May 15.

“He raced at his top form as a three-year-old. He’s more of a sprinter as he has natural speed, but after his Sprint win, there was no harm trying him over the longer Legs as he was still young,” said Tan.

“Unfortunately, he lost to good horses like Debt Collector and even my own Nova Strike and Infantry. He also had an injury to both legs after the Guineas – knee chip. The right leg, then the left leg.

“That’s why I gave him a long break since. It’s been a struggle to bring his weight down again, he’s still a few kilos over now.

“He’s improved after three trials. In the first couple, he was still fat and at his last one, he was still under pressure and was beaten by a good horse, Super Winner.

“He was still on the fat side, but after another gallop, I felt he was much better. I would say he is close to 90% fit and hopefully, he will win again this year.

“I think 1000m is good for a comeback. He got a good barrier but he is running against a good horse like Distinctive Darci, even if I think 1200m is much better for him.”

Without getting too far ahead of himself, the newly-crowned Singapore champion trainer will wait for Sunday’s comeback race to get a better idea where he is at, but he has already been toying with a few ambitious ideas.

“Let’s see how he goes, but I’m thinking of running him in the Dubai Golden Shaheen, along with Nova Swiss and Senator (see other report),” he said.

“If not, I will of course be looking at the Merlion Trophy short-term. I won this race three times in a row and I think Conflight will be suited in such a race.”

The Group 2 Merlion Trophy (1200m) is the first Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series and will be staged on March 5. Tan won the Polytrack feature race three times, first with Speedy Cat in 2013, then with the just-retired El Padrino in 2014 and 2015, the last year the race was run as a Group 3 event.

– Singapore Turf Club

Share this article