War Affair (NZ) Dominates Singapore 3YO Series

Brilliant New Zealand-bred three-year-old War Affair (NZ) (O’Reilly) completed a clean sweep of the inaugural More Magic 3YO Championship with success in the Sgp-3 S$150,000 Magic Millions 2013 More Magic 3YO Championship (1600m) in Singapore last night.

War Affair (NZ) winning the Sgp-3 Magic Millions 2013 More Magic 3YO Championship at Kranji.

Trained by New Zealander Mark Walker, the three-year-old gelding came into the final leg of the Series as the impressive winner of the first two legs with an overall race record of five wins from six starts.

It was the first time any of the eight three-year-olds in the field had stepped up to a mile but trainer Walker was confident that the son of O’Reilly would appreciate the step up in distance.

The gelding owned by the Warplan Syndicate settled midfield in a moderately run race. As the field was turning the final corner, champion jockey Joao Moreira looked to get War Affair to the outside but found trouble as the pair were pushed off balance and ended up very wide on the track.

Fellow Kiwi-bred horse Daniel (NZ) (Guillotine) had ascertained a gap close to the rails and had dashed to the lead. War Affair set out after the well-regarded Daniel and the pair cleared away from the field to fight out the finish with War Affair asserting his dominance over the final stages to win by half-a-length with a further 5.5 lengths back to third.

“He has just kept improving through the Series and hopefully he will go onto bigger and better things,” commented Mark Walker.

“He handled the step up to the mile very well and I think the further he will go the better he will be.

“He has been a great horse for a very cheap price that David Ellis purchased as a yearling at Karaka.

“He might run in the Raffles Cup in two weeks’ time or he might go for a spell now.”

Last night’s win was the third stakes victory in War Affair’s career from his six wins and the gelding has earned S$526,282 for the Warplan Syndicate. Bred by Trelawney Stud, War Affair was sold by his breeders as a yearling at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale when purchased by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis for $70,000.

War Affair is the first winner from his American-bred dam Kristique (Kris S), a daughter of the four-time Group 1 winner Nastique and half-sister to stakes winners Thunder Kitten (Storm Cat) and Nobo True (Broad Bush).

New Zealand Bloodstock enjoyed a highly successful weekend in Singapore, claiming 13 races over two days of racing. On Friday night seven races on the nine-race card were won by New Zealand-bred horses with six of those coming through a New Zealand Bloodstock Sale. Sunday night saw a further seven New Zealand Bloodstock graduates land victories on the 12-race programme including War Affair’s feature win.