This Sunday’s $250,000 Korea Racing Authority Trophy (1200m) has long been a goal that trainer Theo Kieser set his sight on for Super Winner.
However, Kieser had to tweak his training campaign as the Kaphero three-year-old, who has not been seen since his win in the Revolte 2009 Stakes Class 2 race (1200m) on May 15 was given a short break to let his niggles settle.
Kieser wanted to bring him back to the races last month but his plans were thrown out the window when Super Winner suffered a minor infection after a hit-out.
“He had two starts on turf and the first one was pretty good as he ran second to Affleck but he pulled a muscle in his back in the second run and that’s when we decided to give him a little bit of a break,” said the South African-born conditioner.
“He was supposed to run a month ago but he pulled up coughing after the gallop and we discovered mucus in his trachea when we did a scan. That was when we realised that he had a minor throat infection.”
After being given the green light by the vets, Super Winner was given a winning barrier trial on July 14 and a blowout on Wednesday, ridden by his KRA Trophy partner Soo Khoon Beng, who steered him to five wins from eight rides.
Kieser was very pleased with the results, but just as a precaution, he had Super Winner checked to make sure he got a clean bill of health.
“His fitness is back to 100% now and he had a very good trial and gallop for the past two weeks,” he said.
“KB rides him in all his trackwork and trials and he was very pleased with him. Even though he wasn’t coughing after the gallop, I had him scoped and his trachea is clear now.”
However, Kieser is still concerned about the strong field on Sunday but he has left it to Soo to work out a plan.
“It’s going to be a very tough race because there are lots of nice horses with ability but we have a good barrier (5) and we will try our best,” said Theo.
“I will leave the riding to KB as he rode him before and knows him quite well and you never know how you should ride a horse until he jumps from the gate.
“The only thing that I told KB is to try and ride him up on pace. So he’s probably going to be one of the first four horses in the race if things go to plan.”
Kieser has not really made any long-term plans for the Soh Seng Lye-owned galloper, preferring to wait and see how things pan out.
“This race was his goal and we haven’t looked any further as we prefer to take everything just one step at a time,” said Kieser.
– Singapore Turf Club
