Jockey John Powell received high praise from trainer Stephen Gray following his perfect handling of pick-up ride Darc Bounty on Friday night.
The heavyweight rider got the late call-up after fellow Australian jockey Glen Boss was stood down for flu.
Powell, who seldom rides for Gray, went out and turned in a 10-out-of-10 ride on the Darci Brahma three-year-old who incidentally made it three-in-a-row.
Darc Bounty (John Powell, with earmuffs on) makes winning look easy in the Kranji Stakes C race, picture Singapore Turf Club
No doubt, their task was made easier when $13 favourite Nova Missile (John Sundradas) fluffed his line with a slow start in the $80,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1000m, but Powell just rode his own race, tucking his mount in behind the speed set by Cadet (Nooresh Juglall), just waiting for the right moment to pop the question.
Shortly after turning for home, Powell peeled Darc Bounty off the back of Cadet, looking a moral to pinch the race. A few strides astern, Nova Missile was still in the vicinity, but that early effort to play catch-up soon told, leaving only Darc Bounty to collar Cadet 200m out before gradually gaining the ascendancy on the way towards a one-length win.
Cadet battled on gamely to hang on for second place, a neck ahead of Golden Tomahawk (Vlad Duric). The winner clocked a sizzling 58.19 seconds for the 1000m on Polytrack.
“He runs times this horse. Glen Boss gave me very good feedback on him at his last win,” said Gray.
“It’s a shame he was sick and he couldn’t ride him tonight, but John did a good job on him.
“He’s only a wee horse and we had to look after him. He hasn’t raced for seven weeks, and it’s very satisfying to see him win three in a row, and for his owner Elaine Chen who is a very lovely lady.”
Powell said he just went in with Gray’s instructions as the blueprint, but the horse was pretty much auto-pilot.
“Steve was very confident. I just put him in the right spot and he’s now won three on the trot,” said Powell.
“He’s a nice horse and he can go over further.”
With that fourth win, Darc Bounty sees his stakes earnings inch closer to the $180,000 mark for his connections.
