War Affair (NZ) Wins Another Battle
2 June 2015
Star kiwi galloper War Affair (NZ) (O’Reilly) dominated the Singapore turf again on Sunday night, proving his class with victory in the S$300,000 Sgp-2 Steward’s Cup (1400m).
 |
War Affair (NZ) wins the Sgp-2 Steward's Cup. |
Singapore’s Horse of the Year, War Affair, showed he was in top form at his last start, winning the Sgp-1 Lion City Cup fresh up from a five month spell. Trained by Alwin Tan, he has produced 13 victories from his 18 starts, four of these being Singapore Group 1 wins.
“I knew there wouldn’t be much pace in the race,” commented Tan. “The plan was to sit back while Happy Money sets a good tempo but War Affair was caught four wide after he dropped back.
“It was still okay but when I saw him turning four to five wide and my other horse was kicking again, I was a bit worried. I didn’t expect them to be fighting out the finish on an equal footing, and there were other horses closing in as well.
“But he won and that’s what matters. He showed he was the best horse in Singapore, and the bonus is I got the forecast (quinella).”
Commencing the race from a wide barrier for jockey Alan Munro, race-favourite War Affair settled behind mid-field while Happy Money (Econsul) led the small field of eight. After travelling three-wide whilst tracking Golden Brilliant (Mr. Greeley), War Affair was pushed out to race four-wide inside 800m.
Turning for home, the race-favourite boldly swept around the outside to join the front-runners. War Affair and Happy Money challenged each other, sprinting ahead from the rest of the field but it was War Affair who won the battle racing to victory by one-length over Happy Money and Knight Wager (Casino Prince) in third place.
Owned by the Warplan Racing Stable, War Affair increased his prizemoney to S$2,243,538.
War Affair appears to be heading towards the second leg of Singapore 4YO Triple Crown, the Sgp-1 Patron's Bowl in three weeks with the Series culminating in the Sgp-1 Singapore Derby. War Affair has an impressive record in series having already the won the Golden Horseshoe 2YO Series, More Magic 3YO Series and the Singapore 3YO Challenge.
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, the son of Champion Sire O’Reilly is out of unraced mare Krstique (Kris S.), a half-sister to stakes-winners Thunder Kitten (Storm Cat), a Group 3 winner in America, and Nobo True (Broad Brush), a Japanese Group 1 winner.
Other kiwi horses to win on Sunday night in Singapore include Scout Done (NZ) (Swiss Ace), Valbuena (NZ) (Darci Brahma) and Dream Catcher (NZ) (Occidental Tourist).