Apr 29, 2025

Now with Cheng, four-time Singapore winner turns in an inspired training gallop

Horses can sometimes be off their game and a bit of a break could get things running again.

Trainer Winson Cheng Han Yong will be hoping this holds true for his horse, Top Field.

The Real Impact six-year-old has not visited the winner’s enclosure since Oct 21, 2023.

That was when he scored his fourth consecutive win while under the charge of Singaporean trainer Jason Ong at Kranji.

The four-time winner in Singapore (1,600m to 2,000m) ran two more times for Ong, with the last being an unplaced run on Nov 25, 2023, before relocating to Cheng’s yard at Sungai Besi.

He resumed active duty on Feb 4 and looked good when running third to War Star in a 1,000m trial.

Top Field stepped it up and won his next trial on March 11. That day, with Andre da Silva in the saddle, he took that sprint in a smart 1min 0.32sec.

He needed to bring that form to the races, but it was not easy as the 1,100m trip in a Class 4B race on March 16 was hardly his cup of tea.

Still, he ran good first-up. In that tight finish on March 16, Top Field ran 2¾ lengths behind One Abracadabra in sixth.

After a break from racing, Top Field will line up in the Class 4B race (1,500m) on May 3.

His workout on the morning of April 29 was rather inspiring.

Taken out on a track rated yielding to good, the Happy Baby Stable-owned gelding ran out the 600m in a leisurely 40sec, after some serious cantering on Sungai Besi’s turf track.

The longer trip of 1,500m will be more to his liking, as two of his four wins at Kranji were over the mile.

He deserves respect and can race well fresh, hence a first win in Malaysia will not come as a surprise.

Cheng, who is seventh on the 2025 Malaysian trainers’ premiership with 10 winners to his name, could pull another out of the hat when Golden Cup races over the 1,020m in that Class 5A sprint on May 3.

Another six-year-old, Golden Cup has been winless since June 16 in a Class 5A race (1,200m) in Ipoh, but he turned in a good training gallop when running the 600m in 37.8sec.

At his last start on April 20, Golden Cup – who also races in the colours of the Happy Baby Stable – went off as one of the outsiders in a Class 5A contest (1,150m). But he was never in the hunt, finishing eighth in that contest won by Lim’s Sinai.

The Turn Me Loose gelding had excuses. He had to race wide for most of the trip.

A three-time winner from 34 starts, Golden Cup enjoys shorter sprint races, having won twice over 1,200m and once over 1,250m.

While his favoured track appears to be in Ipoh, where he has scored two of his three victories, Kuala Lumpur is where he is based at.

And, on the strength of his training gallop, we should see him raise his game and, with some luck, register a fourth win.

Outside of Cheng’s twosome, the Class 4A race over the 1,500m looks to be an interesting affair.

Trainers Ananthen Kuppan and Simon Dunderdale, whose runners – Forever Sixty-One and Thunderous – fought it out and took first and second in Race 3 in Selangor on April 27 – could be involved in another duel.

Ananthen’s Ocean Jupiter and Dunderdale’s Military Award were also impressive on the training track, clocking 38.6sec and 39.8sec respectively.

Ocean Jupiter would have caused a huge boilover had he won at Selangor on April 5. Carrying little support when ridden by Wong Kam Chong, his win would have paid $107 in dividends, but he ran third to Fire.

That was over the 1,200m on the short course. The son of Ocean Park will appreciate the extra 300m he has to see out on May 4.

As for Military Award, he had a baptism of fire.

On April 12, before his debut run in the Class 4A event (1,200m), a heavy downpour turned the grass track into a padi field.

The field of 12 raced in mud and, with visibility down to near zero, Military Award plodded home in seventh spot, finishing 12¼ lengths behind the winner, Boomba.

The Shamus Award gelding had come into the race on the back of a decent trial when running second to RS Dream.

Now a four-year-old, Military Award came from Australia, where he won a race at Geelong, Victoria on Dec 27, 2023.

That was over the 1,547m and Military Award won it with some authority, holding second spot until the final furlong where he hit the front and kept going.

Should the weather hold on May 3, Military Award could start paying for his keep. Have him as a horse to follow.

Source : Brian Miller