Fifth Singapore Group 1 for War Affair (NZ)

Star kiwi galloper War Affair (NZ) (O’Reilly) added a fifth Singapore Group 1 to his tally with victory in the S$500,000 Sgp-1 Patron’s Bowl (1600m) in Singapore last night, the second leg of the Singapore 4YO Triple Crown Series.

War Affair (NZ) victorious in the Sgp-1 Patron's Bowl. Photo courtesy of the STC.

Trained by Alwin Tan, War Affair proved his class, winning his third successive race this season including the first leg of the Singapore 4YO Triple Crown Series, the Sgp-2 Stewards’ Cup. Victorious in a total of 14 races from his 19 starts, this was his fifth Sgp-1 victory.

Securing the first two legs of the Singapore 4YO Triple Crown Series, the Sgp-2 Stewards’ Cup and the Sgp-1 Patron’s Bowl, gives War Affair a chance to take out the Series which culminates in the Sgp-1 Singapore Derby, to be held on 12 July.

“I’m just so proud of him,” commented Tan. “He is the best horse here and he always knows what he is doing.

“This was a better win than over 1400m (Stewards’ Cup). He is definitely better over a mile.

“The plan was to wait a little longer as it was over 1600m and it paid off. Alan (Munro) knows this horse very well now and rode another perfect race on him.

“We prepped him well for this race. I backed him off after the first week and started increasing his workload in the second week.

“The Derby is on target, but the distance will be another challenge.”

Alan Munro was aboard War Affair, having ridden him in his two previous wins, and settled the son of O’Reilly mid-field in the early stages of the race. At the 800m, War Affair travelled strongly spotting the leader, Order of the Sun (Encosta De Lago), eight-lengths.

Approaching the turn for home, Munro angled War Affair to the centre of the track, sprinting away from his rivals with ease to win by three-lengths over Quechua (Pure Prize), who finished in second place, with Magneto (Footstepsinthesand) in third.

The reigning Singapore Horse of the Year, War Affair has earned his owners the Warplan Racing Stable S$2,509,038 in prizemoney, with 11 of his wins coming at stakes level.

Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis purchased him at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale for NZ$70,000 from Trelawney Stud.

Bred by Trelawney Stud, War Affair is a son of Champion Sire O’Reilly and is out of unraced mare Kristique (Kris S.), a half-sister to stakes-winner Thunder Kitten (Storm Cat), a Group 3 winner in America, and Nobo True (Broad Brush), a Japanese Group 1 winner.

Karaka graduates won six of the 11 races in Singapore last night, three of which were purchased by Ellis, with the other two wins to join War Affair including Appellation (NZ) (Pentire) and Laser Storm (NZ) (Lucky Owners). The other graduates of Karaka to win were Double Rainbow (NZ) (Iffraaj), Million Round (NZ) (Edenwold) and Blue Swede (NZ) (O’Reilly).