Australian jockey John Powell booted home his first winner for trainer James Peters on Sunday after Arc Raider got off the mark in the $85,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1400m on Sunday.
The heavyweight rider is usually committed to trainer Shane Baertschiger and though he takes outside rides a fair bit, he is also restricted to horses at the higher end of the handicaps.
Powell did ride on the odd occasion for Peters, and a bit more often for Peters’ former boss Michael Freedman, but he does boast two wins for Arc Raider’s owners, the ARC Marine Stable aboard Marine Treasure for Baertschiger.
Arc Raider (John Powell) holds off Turf Princess (Olivier Placais) on his way to his maiden win, picture Singapore Turf Club
Well-known as a good judge of pace, Powell showed he indeed had a clock in his head, yet again. He rated the race to a tee once he was able to take Arc Raider, a New Zealand-bred three-year-old, to the front.
The fact he was able to give the $18 favourite a breather mid-race probably went a long way in finding another length when they came under siege at the 200m.
Turf Princess (Olivier Placais) looked a moral when she came collaring Arc Raider with a wet sail on the outside. But Peters’ charge was clearly not done yet, as he gamely fought his way back before finishing it off under hands-and-heels riding from Powell to keep Lee Freedman’s filly at bay by half-a-length.
After enduring a torrid trip three wide punching the breeze, Bebop (Noh Senari) boxed on solidly for third place another half-a-length away. Favourite Alamak (Vlad Duric) had every chance but missed a podium finish by a similar margin. The winning time was 1min 23.86secs for the 1400m on the Long Course.
“I’ve only had a few rides for James before. This is my first win for him, it’s great,” said Powell.
“This horse took a while to get to the front, but he was very brave to the line. He needs further.”
Peters concurred with Powell that the son of Savabeel will be even better over more ground. Arc Raider is actually one of his two entries in the $1 million Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) next Saturday, but he said that his chances of lining up were remote.
The other entry, Nova Vocal, earned his ticket after his handsome win on Friday night.
“It’s unlikely he’ll run, I threw him in as an early entry just in case,” said Peters of Arc Raider’s chance of making the cut in the third Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge.
“He will get better when he goes over 1600m to 1800m. I ran him in this Restricted Maiden as it’s worth good prizemoney.
“JP gave him a good aggressive ride. I thought he’d get swallowed but he really tried hard.
“It’s great for the owners Ronnie and Andrew. They supported me last year and they’re good guys who deserve every success that comes their way.”
The pair race horses under the ARC Marine Stable which besides Arc Raider, also has one-time winner Arc Triumph with Peters and shares Marine Treasure with the Premier Racing Stable.
