Banker’s Two Six lands the money
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
The Johnny Lim Boon Thong-trained Banker's Two Six (Farhan Ghazali) landing the Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy (1,600m) at Sungai Besi on Feb 18.
PHOTO: SELANGOR TURF CLUB
KUALA LUMPUR – After his very near miss in the Group 1 Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (2,000m) on Dec 7, Banker’s Two Six was finally able to reward his connections with a runaway win in the RM100,000 (S$32,000) Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy (1,600m) at Sungai Besi on Feb 18.
After winning at his second start in a Class 4 (1,600m) on Nov 2, the Toronado five-year-old just failed to catch Kim Emperor by a neck in a thrilling finish to the Piala Emas two starts later.
Back in Class 4 in January, Johnny Lim Boon Thong’s galloper romped home by 8¼ lengths.
Starting as third favourite in the Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy, Banker’s Two Six was not intimidated by the reputation of the two top elects Platinum Emperor and Good Star.
The race was won at the start when Banker’s Two Six (Farhan Ghazali) swept past the early leaders to dash to a clear lead. He kept getting further and further, eventually strolling in by 4¾ lengths.
Big Hearted (Fikri Ismail) came with a late burst to grab second place by a nose from Platinum Emperor (Benny Woodworth), who laboured under 59.5kg on a track rated as “yielding”.
“He should’ve won the Piala Emas, but this is a good consolation,” said Lim. “After the Piala Emas, I knew he was good enough to win a Cup race some day.
“I will now set him for the Perak Derby (2,000m) next month.”
Farhan was also ecstatic he had nailed his first feature race.
“My instructions were to set the pace but he (Banker’s Two Six) was a little slow off the mark and it took us some time to get to the front,” said Farhan.
“This is my third attempt at the Cup race and finally I have a trophy to show.” TURFONLINE
