KUALA LUMPUR:  Feb 11, 2024

Exciting galloper MILITARY FLAG completed a hattrick when he battled to victory in the RM80,000 Wilayah Silver Bowl over 1200m at Sungai Besi here today.

And jockey Jose De Souza’s sacrifice to lose weight to ride the son of U S Navy Flag in the feature race restricted to five-year-olds and younger paid off handsomely.

For the first time in years, De Souza managed to get down to ride a horse at 53kg, just 0.5kg above the allotted weight of MILITARY FLAG. 

Bought for NZ$52,500 at the New Zealand Ready To Run sale, MILITARY FLAG brought his record to three wins and a second in four runs with De Souza as his regular rider.

MILITARY FLAG jumped well and was amongst the early bunch of leaders. De Souza eased the gelding back, settling in midfield before moving his mount up to fourth making the turn into the straight.

INTENT and RICH N POWERFUL disputed the lead on settling down with the former leading into the straight. SHIMI GO and MILITARY FLAG were in close attendance.

SHIGO GO and MILITARY FLAG raced past INTENT at the 200m and drew away to fight out the finish.

MILITARY FLAG went the better in the closing stages, winning by 1 1/4 lengths. Topweight MISTY SWIFT finished well to take third placing.

“Everything went as planned,” said De Souza. “He had good cover and most importantly, the light weight helped him.”

“The way he won told me that he is a very promising horse. It was worth the sacrifice to lose weight for a horse like him!”

“MILITARY FLAG is a very promising horse,” said trainer Simon Dunderdale echoing the thoughts of De Souza. “It was a very good win today especially as he was the only three-year-old in the race.”

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