{"id":11826,"date":"2025-11-16T00:23:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T16:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11826"},"modified":"2025-11-16T00:23:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T16:23:49","slug":"fright-thrown-in-at-the-deep-end-in-singapore-pools-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11826","title":{"rendered":"Fright thrown in at the deep end in Singapore Pools race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Singapore Pools Trophy may be the supporting act to the Group 1 Coronation Cup (1,600m) on Nov 16, but to reigning Malaysian champion trainer Simon Dunderdale, it is anything but a consolation cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Kuala Lumpur-based New Zealander would have actually loved to revisit Ipoh\u2019s mile feature to keep a good run going. He joined the honour roll in 2023 with Good Fight, and nearly went back-to-back if not for an in-form Mega Gems raining down on his parade last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Stable star Antipodean could have been a shoo-in for this year\u2019s renewal, but Dunderdale decided to think out of the square.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cI\u2019m trying something different with Antipodean. He\u2019s never been tried beyond the mile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cInstead of trucking up to Ipoh, we\u2019ll give him a let-up and set him for the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (Dec 7) \u2013 there\u2019s no reason why he can\u2019t get 2,000m.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dunderdale may have eschewed the Coronation Cup path this time round, but another race on the undercard appealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Perak Turf Club\u2019s RM100,000 (S$31,000) Open speed dash (1,200m) named in honour of Singapore\u2019s gaming outfit looked like the ideal interstate race for his rising star Fright.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It comes three weeks after the Brazen Beau four-year-old was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/syafifie-strikes-career-best-five?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">rolled for the first time at his fourth start<\/p>\n<p><\/a> in a Class 3 (1,020m) race in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 25, but he had excuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ridden by regular partner Khaw Choon Kit, Fright had to spend some petrol to muster his customary speed to land in front, only to be kept honest by Stop The Water for most of the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Softened up and unable to kick clear like at his previous wins, he still dug deep but was blindsided by long shot Hasten\u2019s sneaky run on his inside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The end of an unbeaten streak is always a bitter pill to swallow, but Dunderdale was still proud of his ward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cA horse took him on, which didn\u2019t help, and C.K. Khaw was caught napping. He didn\u2019t see the other horse get from under him, he still ran great,\u201d said the trainer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Redemption is not the main driving force for the three-hour float between states. The different venue is not the only changed variable to the equation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe decided after his last race that this Ipoh 1,200m would be a nice race for him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cHe\u2019s up in class, but as he\u2019s always been carrying top weights like 59kg, he now gets a nice weight of 55kg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThere will be a lot of speed in the race with horses like Pacific Vampire and Tom\u2019s Lightning. I had a good talk to C.K. and we agreed we would let them go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWith the lighter weight, he can sit second or third. I believe he can drop back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIn a couple of his races, he found his feet and we didn\u2019t force him into the front. He gives every indication he\u2019ll go up to 1,400m one day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to seeing him take a sit, and whether he can sprint home, the long Ipoh straight will tell us that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dunderdale believes that feature of the Perak Turf Club racecourse will not be main rival Pacific Vampire\u2019s cup of tea, though.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe longer Ipoh straight may make Pacific Vampire more vulnerable. He\u2019s been getting run down lately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cOn the other hand, Noah Khan comes from behind and is a very good horse, but we also have a weight pull on him (3kg).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Fright, who was placed three times in four starts in Australia, carries the familiar green colours of Griffin Stable, whose Singaporean owner Rodney Too once raced the likes of former top juvenile Kaiser, Sebas and Griffin with the late Theo Kieser at Kranji.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cRodney currently has just Fright with me. I knew the moment that horse came to our stable he was above average,\u201d said Dunderdale. \u201cHopefully, Rodney gets more horses over to us very soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cHe\u2019s flying up to Ipoh to watch Fright race. Unfortunately, I won\u2019t be there as I\u2019m currently in New Zealand for the sales, but I will be watching for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/mailto:manyan@sph.com.sg?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_self\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">manyan@sph.com.sg<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"tags-test-id\">\n<p><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Horse racing\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Horse racing<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Malaysia\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Malaysia<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Sports and recreation\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Sports and recreation<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/fright-thrown-in-at-the-deep-end-in-singapore-pools-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Singapore Pools Trophy may be the supporting act to the Group 1 Coronation Cup (1,600m) on Nov 16, but to reigning Malaysian champion trainer&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}