News

Shaw hoping for Lightning to strike twice

4th Mar 2011

Singapore Turf Club - Craig Brennan - Thursday, 3 March 2011

Trainer Patrick Shaw has been a little light on for race numbers in recent weeks.

However he looks set to be back in the winner’s circle on Sunday per medium of champion sprinter Rocket Man who makes his return to racing in the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A over 1200m.

And he will be joined by another promising type in Irish Lightning in the $60,000 Inglis Easter Yearling Sales Stakes over 1100m on the Polytrack.

A son of Rock Of Gibraltar, Irish Lightning will be making his debut on Sunday but goes into the race as a two time trial winner, the latest just last Tuesday when he accounted for the older horses in a 1000m hitout in a respectable 1 min 01.85 secs.

Irish Lightning is the first of as many as 41 new horses that Shaw has on his books as he goes about rebuilding his team.

The trainer said it was a “experiment” to see how things pan out.

“We are going through a rebuilding faze at the moment,” said Shaw. “That is why we haven’t had too many runners of late.

“This is the first time that we have ever done anything like this before. It is an experiment but we are keen to see how it works.”

Shaw said there were 31 two-year-olds on his books for the current season with a further 10 horses still waiting overseas to come into Singapore.

“Most of the horses come from Australia or Argentina,” said Shaw. “There are some nice horses amongst them but only time will tell.

“We are just starting to put a few more through their paces and some of them are nearing the trialling stage but are still a while off racing.”

Shaw described Irish Lightning as the most forward of his two-year-old team and as such will be his first runner in the Singapore Golden Horseshoe Series for the year.

“He was the most forward of the two-year-olds that we have and that is why he is lining-up on Sunday,” said Shaw.

“He has done everything asked of him in his trials so far but he has mainly worked on his own in preparation for his race.

“He is not a big horse. In fact there is not much of him and he runs purely on heart.

“I don’t think the barrier (drawing the extreme outside in the eight horse field) is in our favour but I’m sure he will give a good account of himself.”

Irish Lightning is owned by Fred Crabbia who will be looking for a race-to-race double on Sunday as Rocket Man lines-up in the following race.

Rocket Man will be having his “tune-up” run before embarking on a trip to Dubai for the Group 1 US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen over 1200m on the Tapeta track at Meydan on March 26.

Singapore’s champion sprinter has had three trials in preparation for his return, the latest over 1000m on February 24.

“Touch wood all is well with him,” said Shaw. “He has had a faultless preparation and all is good with him.

“We weighed him the other day and he was 476kg. It is just where I want him.”

Shaw had to have Rocket Man clipped recently as the gelding was having trouble shedding his winter coat following a delayed return from Hong Kong in December.

The trainer said the champion would undergo a precautionary x-ray following Sunday’s race before he heads to Dubai on March 19.

Shaw is following the same procedure as 12 months earlier when the gelding finished second to Kinsale King in the Golden Shaheen but is hoping to go one better this time around.

Photo from Singapore Turf Club