All eyes on Leong Ma Biscuit, Man Of Action

The Group 1 Coronation Cup will be run on Nov 16 and the spotlight will shift to the Perak Turf Club, where the feature event will see 12 runners vying for glory over the mile.

While the RM250,000 (S$78,000) contest is the highlight, the undercard is also rather impressive.

There is the RM100,000 Singapore Pools Trophy (1,200m) and two other trophy races – the JRA Goodwill Trophy (1,200m) and the Royal Sabah Turf Club Goodwill Trophy (1,400m) – that will add further glamour to the afternoon’s action.

So while it is all quiet on the Selangor front, trackwork was in full swing on the Ipoh racetrack where several contenders for the named races were out strutting their stuff on the training track.

Prominent among them were Leong Ma Biscuit and Man Of Action who will be contesting the Coronation Cup.

While the pair may not look like two of the glamour horses in the line-up, their work on the training track did suggest that they are both ready to put in a bid for the crown.

In separate gallops, Leong Ma Biscuit clocked 38.5sec for the 600m, while Man Of Action stopped the clock at 39sec.

The Ismadi Ismail-trained Leong Ma Biscuit has what it takes to win races.

The six-year-old son of Belardo has won three races over 1,300m and 1,400m from 19 starts. In the Enrich Stakes A event (1,200m) on Oct 4 last time, he put in a decent effort when finishing fourth behind the Wayne Lim-trained Shirvo, whom he will again meet in the Coronation Cup.

On his race record, we know that the New Zealand-bred races best when allowed to dictate pace and pressure.

Two of his three wins have been all-the-way affairs.

Those were over the 1,300m trips. But, to his credit, he did win a Class 4A contest over 1,400m on Nov 23, 2024 when charging home from fourth at the top of the straight.

The mile will be a new adventure for the brown galloper owned by Majestic Dragon Stable, but with the light weight of 51kg and a good prep work done, he is capable of landing a punch.

As for Man Of Action, the track and trip will suit, even if the six-time winner has only won up till 1,400m thus far.

Formerly known as Arya Pakuan when under the care of Stephen Gray and James Peters in Singapore, the Sebring gelding scored thrice before landing three more wins in Ipoh with trainer Kevin Coetzee.

At his latest success, he ran a cracker, coming from fifth upon straightening to beat Leong Ma Biscuit in the Cosmo C race (1,300m) on June 14.

That was the second leg of a race-to-race double, having won earlier in another similar race over 1,400m on April 26 when coming from way off the pace.

Man Of Action has now transferred to Asogan Thangaraju after his unplaced run for Coetzee in September and he will have to be at his best first-up on Nov 16.

But the six-year-old chestnut is a fighter and, over the mile, he could be the one running them down late with just 52kg on his back.

Then, there was Singapore Pools Trophy’s hopeful, Wilamara, who also worked well.

Prepared by Peter Lee, Wilamara served warning to the “boys” that she was ready for a fight.

In that sprint contest, there is the 106-point rater and noted speedster Pacific Vampire. Noah Khan is next in the rating at a lofty 89 and there in the mix is also Fright, who is slowly but surely making a name for himself in Malaysia.

Lee sent his five-year-old mare out for a training gallop where she ran the 600m in 42.4sec, unextended.

Wilamara trots into the race with some good numbers preceding her name. In her last five runs dating back to Aug 6 on her Malaysian debut, the Per Incanto mare has won once, placed thrice and finished fourth once.

The win was in a Class 4A race on June 28 when she trounced her rivals, beating the second-placed Legend Of The Sun by 4¼ lengths over the 1,200m.

Last time, in the Enrich Stakes A race over the 1,400m on Sept 20, she was only beaten three parts of a length by Shirvo.

The 1,200m which she has to cover in the trophy race will be more to her liking and, while the opposition does look formidable, her workout was a powerful statement of intent and we should see the New Zealand-bred run well as she always does.

brian@sph.com.sg