Trainer Ricardo Le Grange’s first words after Super Denman’s maiden victory on Friday night went straight to assistant-trainer Jacci de Tert.

Always the unsung heroine even during her long years of loyal service to former Kranji trainer Patrick Shaw, de Tert normally shuns the limelight on raceday, but is known to be one of the main cogs in the wheel at the stables.

This time around, it is her expertise in physiotherapy that came in handy on the Denman three-year-old.



Super Denman (Barend Vorster) opens his account in Race 2 on Friday, picture Singapore Turf Club

“Jacci has done a lot of physio work on Super Denman because of his back, and I’m glad it’s paid off,” said Le Grange as he lauded his fellow South African’s hard work.

“As we all know, she does a hell of a lot of work at the stables, and without her behind the scenes, we would not have such good results on the track.

“Barend (Vorster) rode him a treat, and a big thank you to (owner) Andre (Lim) and his support, as he’s been very patient with this horse. He showed us ability and has finally put it together tonight.”

One of the best away, Super Denman ($45), who had only one third place to show for at three previous runs when he was always well supported, eventually crossed to establish a handy lead on his 11 rivals.

Fusion Power (Alan Munro), who also showed toe from an even wider stall (the outermost in 12), slid upsides to eventually wrest the lead from Super Denman, but without being able to cross over.

Turning for home, Saimee Jumaat’s newcomer kicked clear, but Super Denman was not about to get shown a clean set of heels as he also mustered speed on the inside to issue a bold challenge inside the last furlong before edging clear to score by three-quarter length from Fusion Power with D’Great Star (Wong Chin Chuen) third another length away. The winning time for the 1200m of the $75,000 Restricted Maiden race was a smart 1min 11.54secs.

Vorster, who was aboard at Super Denman’s debut, was full of admiration for the way the Australian-bred knuckled down to the task this time around.

“This horse needed a lot of tweaking. Ricky took the blinkers off at his trial and he seemed to take the bridle better,” said the South African jockey.

“Last time, he would overrace and run into the ground. He’s a good horse and all the credit should go to Jacci who did a lot of physio work on him and it has improved his action.

“I was a bit cautious tonight as I thought there would be a lot of pace. When Alan came on the outside, that helped us as the horse doesn’t take corners all that well.

“In the straight, he still had one kick left in him and like I said, it’s all due to a lot of work that has gone into this horse.”