Japanese import Star Jack has not taken too long to show his wares at Kranji after opening his local account at his fourth start on Sunday.
Third at his last outing in a Class 4 Non Premier race over 1600m, the four-year-old son of Japan Cup-Japan Derby (both over 2400m) winner Jungle Pocket franked his staying bloodlines with a resounding win when stepped up to the 1800m distance of the $80,000 S Baertschiger Racing, a Kranji Stakes C race.
Settled in an ideal stalking spot while hugging the rails in third, Star Jack ($31) had the word ‘win’ written all over his eye-catching yellow earmuffs - accessorised with black cheekpieces - when he was peeled out for his run at the point of the turn.
Star Jack (Olivier Placais) off to his first win on Sunday.
Chocolats (John Powell) tried to hang on to his lead in a bid to give Baertschiger a win in his own race (race name sponsorship that was part of a charity drive behind the Charity Bowl day), but Star Jack was noticeably working home better and the inevitable soon became a done deal.
Under jockey Olivier Placais’ distinctive high-handed whip-riding, Star Jack kept finding extra as he strode towards his first Kranji win. Although he shortened up late, he had enough resources left to outlast the fast-finishing Gold City (Vlad Duric) by three-quarter length.
Kings Ryker (Craig Grylls) boxed on nicely for third place another short head away. The winning time was 1min 47.95secs for the 1800m on the Long Course.
“I was confident he could stay as he is the son of a Derby winner in Japan,” said Star Jack’s Japanese handler Hideyuki Takaoka.
“The horse himself won over 1600m in Japan and was placed up to 2400m (when known as Sanei Jack).”
Takaoka is of course revered as a master conditioner of stayers, especially of the Singapore Gold Cup type, having won four of them (three with El Dorado in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and one with Better Life in 2012), but he was in no way making Star Jack a gilt-edged chance at another shot.
“He’s not beaten much today. Let’s see how much he can improve by after today’s win,” he simply said.
Placais for one will be hoping Takaoka can weave his magic on Star Jack. In any case, the French jockey would love to sit on anything the quiet and unassuming trainer throws at him given the good chemistry the pair has enjoyed this year.
Star Jack was their 10th win together, which translates to almost one in every three of Placais’ 27 wins this season.
While some may think the Franco-Japanese pairing has only hit the ground running this season, it was not a new union.
Back in 2011, at Placais’ best season among his last four-year stint between 2009 and 2012, he actually counted nine wins for Takaoka among his haul of 44 wins, including the likes of Keep Away, Mitre Peak, Decouper and Caribbean Moon.
Interestingly, Placais never won for Takaoka during the other three years, and neither did they combine successfully when he returned for a third stint (Placais first came as a young jockey just out of his time for ex-Kranji trainer Arnaud de Moussac in 2002, and Takaoka only began training in Singapore in 2003) in 2016 until this year.
“I’ve always enjoyed riding for Mr Takaoka. He doesn’t say much, but I know what he wants from me and right now, his horses are coming along nicely,” said Placais.
“This horse (Star Jack) ran very well at his last start. He was a bit lazy in the straight and did not give me as much as I asked from him.
“But we put the winkers on him today to wake him up and he was really more switched on this time.
“He was just waiting for me to ask him to sprint. When he hit the front, I tried to get him going for as long as he could.
“But I was a bit worried around the 200m mark, as I could feel the other horses were coming fast, but luckily, he held on very well.”
