Pacific Victory notched his most important success yet when the Rubick four-year-old silenced some big guns in the Supreme B contest over 1600m at Sungai Besi today.

Sure, the Australian gelding had won a Supreme B race, the Equine Sanctuary Trophy four weeks ago. But that was over 1200m.

This time around, the Australian gelding was not only stepping up in distance to 1600m which he tackled only once and finished second early last month, but also meeting the likes of Singapore Gold Cup winner Smart Star, Penang Gold Cup and Perak Derby winner Lucky Magic, and the Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy winner and stablemate Pacific Padrino.

And it was his second run in the space of six days.

Pacific Victory came from near-last to finish second to Bransom in a Supreme A sprint over 1020m on the No. 2 track last Sunday.

Regular rider Jerlyn Seow was back in the saddle after switching to another horse last week and their partnership, which has yielded four wins thus far including one at Kranji, came to fore again.

Pacific Victory went to the front from the word “go” but Seow was always had him on a tight hold, racing at a steady space and saving him for the long home straight ahead. 

Pacific Victory took a narrow lead going into the straight with the rest of the field in a tight bunch behind him. They had every chance from there.

Pacific Victory began to kick clear coming to the 300m and was three lengths ahead of the chasing pack at the 200m.

Pacific Padrino, taken to the inside rails under Carlos Henrique, charged home in the closing stages but Pacific Victory was home and dry, winning by three-quarters of a length. A similar distance away came Lucky Magic and Smart Star, both doing good work towards the finish.

Lucky Star (Shafiq Rusof) beat Smart Star (Clyde Leck) by a short head but lost third placing after a protest for interference.

“We expected him (Pacific Victory) to have a soft lead because he has gate speed,” said Seow.

“But it was also important to nurse him so that he can finish the race off, which he did.

“We expected him to run a good race, and yes, I was quite confident (of a win).”

Pacific Victory went off as the second favourite (RM28) in the nine-horse field after punters went to town on Lucky Magic (RM6) who was unbeaten in his last three starts.

Pacific Victory has picked up five wins and two seconds in eight runs in the country. He won three races in Australia before moving to Singapore where he also managed three wins.

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