News

Small giant Stepitup steps down

6th Jun 2016

Singapore Turf Club - Michael Lee - Monday, 6 June 2016

The people’s mighty little champion Stepitup has been retired after he fractured his sesamoid in Sunday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m).

The 2015 Singapore Horse of the Year was already under pressure and not making much headway when he broke down at the 600m mark before dropping out of the race to finish a long last to Laughing Gravy. Jockey John Powell even dismounted after the line with the pint-sized gelding clearly lame as he was walked back to the stables.

An X-ray performed on the Hussonet six-year-old on Monday morning, however, confirmed everybody’s worst fears that he might have run his last race.

Stepitup was often dwarfed by his towering opponents but he has on more than one occasion knocked them cold.

“We did an X-ray on Stepitup this morning, and unfortunately, it showed he has cracked the sesamoid to his off-fore leg,” said trainer Laurie Laxon.

“I think he broke down around the 600m. That’s it, he will be retired and I’ve already informed Thomas (Loke).

“It’s a shame as he’s been such a great horse to us, even if we had him for only over a year.”

Originally purchased by trainer Cliff Brown for Mr Loke of Tivic Stable, Stepitup took his first “baby step” at Kranji when he came out for his racing debut for his first trainer, Sonny Yeoh on September 28, 2012.

Four weeks into his new licence, the younger brother of former trainer Dr Yeoh Kheng Chye had only two seconds to show for in 22 starters, and thought that non-descript “little thing” would need the run at his debut in a Restricted Maiden race over 1000m.

Inconspicuous at both his work and in the market, the $421 shot flew home late to score a gutsy first win by a head. Not quite head-turning stuff, but honest enough. It did make the headlines, but more as Yeoh’s maiden winner.

Often, three-digit odds debut winners disappear from the face of the Earth or don’t quite live up to the promise, but Stepitup did not. Weighing in at a waiflike 440kg on debut, the puny gelding never grew in size, but his win count and bank account did, and exponentially.

He remained unbeaten in two more starts that year, before tasting defeat for the first time when he arrived too late to down Man Of Substance at his first 2013 run in a Kranji Stakes C race over 1200m.

But Yeoh already knew he potentially had a gem in his brand new barn, something he did not expect to happen to him at his very first year. A three-year-old sparkler who, without surprise, swept all three Legs of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge.

A new star was born. The perfect three was no doubt a remarkable feat, but by no means unprecedented, though, as Better Than Ever (2010) and Gingerbread Man (2011) began the trend before him. But what beggared belief about Stepitup was where does such a “pony” go tapping into to produce such blazing turn of foots?

Yeoh did not have an answer. To him, it was probably in his belly and all he cared about was the horse and to keep him rolling, and roll he did, though he found the two Legs of the Singapore Triple Crown, the Group 1 Panasonic Kranji Mile (1600m) and the Group 1 Raffles Cup (1800m) a little too rich as a just-turned four-year-old. He had time on his side anyway…

But then came the lull that most saw as sliding down towards his nadir in 2014. Stepitup could not have begun the new campaign in a more auspicious way when he landed the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (2000m) off the back of the Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes (1700m) in December, but his performance flatlined, and even dipped.

In eight more runs all in Group races, he failed to revisit the winner’s circle, and invariably, his odds started to lengthen up, even if flashes of brilliance did emerge now and again.

Like his narrow second to Spalato in the Group 1 Patron’s Bowl (1600m) before franking that form with another runner-up spot to John O’Hara’s new sensation in the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) three weeks later, but this time beaten a longer way off. In the Group 3 Jumbo Jet Trophy (1400m), he was taking the shortcuts home along the fence for David Flores, but was poleaxed, effectively putting him out of business.

But the general consensus was Stepitup had reached his mark as a 3YO and was now punching above his weight. The last straw was a poor run behind War Affair in a second shot at the Panasonic Kranji Mile (1600m), which was to be, sadly, the last run for Yeoh.

A seachange is often viewed as owners as a chance for a new lease of life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It worked wonders for Stepitup.

Those who thought he was a has-been (despite his rating still hovering around 100) that even champion trainer Laurie Laxon’s mastery could not revive went on to eat their words.

After two ordinary runs for the Kiwi handler, Stepitup suddenly gave a glimpse of the old pocket dynamo, steaming home late in two runs, including a smack-up second to El Padrino on his less-favoured Polytrack in the Group 3 Merlion Trophy (1200m).

It was no flash in the pan as Stepitup went on to enjoy his finest moment as a racehorse. Six wins, including five at Group level, namely the Group 2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) and the two Group 1s that eluded him as a four-year-old and a five-year-old, the Panasonic Kranji Mile and Raffles Cup. Jockeys Manoel Nunes and Michael Rodd, the lucky ones who caught that wave of that new hunger for wins, were left in awe by his almost freakish second coming.

As the icing on the cake, he capped that annus mirabilis with a Singapore Horse of the Year title that not many would have thought a “horse past his prime” could still win, though another bad run in the Longines Singapore Gold Cup did leave a bittersweet taste, but settled once and for all the question that the 2200m trip was beyond him.

After the glitter dust had settled, the question on everybody’s lips was could Stepitup better his rampage in 2016? Die-hard fans could never be prised out of his corner, even if the first tiny crack did surface when an invitation to run in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick in Sydney in April was eventually dropped.

Unfortunately, it was not the only thing that dropped. With his rating at an all-time high of 114, Stepitup was unable to sustain the same level of performance at his new campaign, when slapped with those top-weights over his diminutive frame, even if Laxon twice opted for a four-kilo claimer for some relief.

The brave little warrior’s spirit was still willing but the sparkle was not quite there. In five runs, he could only muster a fourth to Spalato in the Merlion Trophy as his best run. Laxon, however, remained hopeful a return to Weight-for-Age conditions and a more suitable journey of 2000m in Sunday’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup, upgraded to Group 1 this year, could put him back on track, but sadly, it was to be his swan song.

Stepitup might not have joined the pantheon of the very best in Singapore, but he was not far behind, bowing out the winner of 15 races for eight placings in 39 starts, racking up prizemoney in excess of $2.5 million for the Tivic Stable.

The weight of the tiny fighter at his last race was…440kg. Enjoy your retirement little champ.