There is every chance Hong Kong owner Michael Lam won’t rebuke trainer Desmond Koh for ‘snubbing’ his invitation to a quick Thailand getaway over the weekend.
Koh was nearly swayed in accepting, but in the end gently declined the offer with an argument which was hard to counter. Duty calls.
“I told Michael I couldn’t go to Thailand, as enticing as it was. I had to train a winner on Friday night – and well, I got the Luck!” said Koh with a wide grin at the winner’s circle after Mr Luck bounced back to his best with a razor-thin win in the $80,000 Class 3 race over 1200m.
Mr Luck (Wong Chin Chuen, No 5) pulls out all the stops to nose out Red Dawn (John Powell, on the inside), picture Singapore Turf Club
On face value, it sounded like Koh was on a hiding to nothing when he took a raincheck . Mr Luck had left his best form at home for a while, a fact most punters were clued up about going with his generous $91 quote.
But against all odds, Koh delivered on the quid pro quo.
“It’s good to see Mr Luck win again after such a long time. We’ve been stretching him over longer trips but it hasn’t quite worked out.
“Dropping him back to those shorter sprints seems to work better for him. When horses don’t have the class, they eventually plateau off, and Mr Luck was one of them.
“But they eventually end up in the right race and that’s when they win again.”
Koh admitted that he felt his mini-pledge to make Mr Luck regain his winning flair after seven fruitless runs was starting to feel like egg on his face when he was caught four deep punching the breeze for most of the 1200m journey.
But apprentice Wong Chin Chuen, who was his rider at that last win 10 months ago, always had the US-bred by Kitten’s Joy coasting within his own team despite covering the most ground. On his inside, Red Dawn (John Powell), who would be the one to fight out the head-bobber with him, was also travelling well.
Into the straight, Mr Luck made the first move and took the measure of the weakening Flak Jacket with Justice Day (Glen Boss) showing some ticker on his inside.
Favourite Anonymous (Vlad Duric) was also rattling home on the outside, but it was Red Dawn, who had momentarily looked on the backfoot when the swoopers took the first boat, who was suddenly gathering steam the best.
Mr Luck was hanging on for dear life as Red Dawn reeled him in with every stride, but Koh’s game sprinter eventually prevailed by the slenderest of margins – a nose. Anonymous died on his run to finish third another length away. The winning time was 1min 10.71secs for the 1100m on the Polytrack.
With that fifth win from 17 starts, Mr Luck has now amassed takings in excess of $210,000 for the Lam’s Luck San Stable.
