Debutant Tom Cat gave his rivals a full sight of his jet exhausts in the S$75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m on Friday night.
Like the F-14 jet fighter he is named after, the New Zealand-bred Wandjina three-year-old blasted off to the front after making light of his wide alley, throttling down midrace to an uncontested lead before flicking back on the afterburners in the straight.
Tom Cat immediately put a big space between him and his rivals to go and score as he pleased, even if standby starter Fountain Of Fame did pare down the margin to three and a half lengths.
Punted down to $18, Tom Cat, who races in the Thai colours of 2017 Singapore Horse of the Year Infantry, clocked the smart time of 1min 5.36secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack, a clear gauge of his untapped potential given he was only at his race launch.
Winning trainer Lee Freedman was pleased he had trained a winner for Krit Chisatteni in those silks.
“I’ve trained a few winners for Krit but I don’t think there was any in those colours,” said Freedman.
“Unfortunately, we had to retire Infantry. He was a really good horse, we tried to keep him going but it became a losing battle. I think he’s somewhere in Thailand in a small farm run by Krit, enjoying his retirement.
“Krit bought this horse (Tom Cat) from New Zealand. I was keen to get him as he’s a racy type, but he’s totally different from Infantry. He is a small horse and is bred for speed, that’s his caper.
“He’s by Wandjina who was an (2015) Australian Guineas (1600m) winner and trained by Gai Waterhouse. Wandjina is by Snitzel and that horse (Tom Cat) is exactly like his grandsire, compact and nuggety.
“He showed a bit of speed at his trials here, and I told Joey (Azzopardi) since he was drawn awkwardly to use his speed.
“He’s been in work for a while, I think he’s had two or three preps because he had to be gelded.”
Azzopardi, who flies back to his native Perth for a first hit-and-run visit since he began riding in Singapore in April, couldn’t have hoped for a better send-off.
“He’s a hard-going horse and we decided to keep it simple,” said Azzopardi.
“He led nicely but he took a while to come back beneath me. He had a nice breather and won well in the end.
Tom Cat was sold out of Regal Farm’s 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run draft for $150,000 when purchased by the partnership of Mr K Chittaseni and Waterford Bloodstock.
