Celavi to contest Korea Sprint

Michael Clements will be keeping his fingers crossed he is not thrown a curveball from now until Sept 4.

That day, Celavi is slated to face the starter in the Korea Racing Authority's (KRA) KRW1 billion ($1.04 million) Group 3 Korea Sprint (1,200m) at the Seoul Racecourse.

The Polytrack-loving mare will become Clements' first horse to race overseas, an item on his bucket list that he has tried to tick off a couple of times before, but fate somehow decided otherwise.

Another fast mare in Kiwi Karma was ready to travel to Dubai for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint (1,000m) in 2016, but was scratched close to raceday because of a Strangles outbreak at Kranji.

In 2020, Clements had another crack at the Dubai riches with four horses, headed by Countofmontecristo, but the carnival was eventually cancelled due to Covid-19.

"I've tried going overseas with a horse before but things just didn't work out," said the Zimbabwe-born Singaporean trainer.

"I did think about Korea in 2018 with Song To The Moon, but again, it didn't eventuate. This time, I think it's all systems go."

Korea is not uncharted territory for Singapore racing, though. In 2014, Alwin Tan's El Padrino famously won the inaugural Group 3 Asia Challenge Cup (1,400m), the forerunner to the Korea Sprint.

Other attempts to repeat the feat were met with less success, though. El Padrino had another shot in 2015, Infantry (2016), Wimbledon (2017) and Maximus (2018) also tried their luck, but all failed, with the notoriously deep sand pointed at as the main cause.

"Some KRA representatives came here a month ago. They were scouting for horses which would be eligible rating-wise for their Group 3 races," said Clements.

The Group 3 Korea Cup (1,800m) will also be staged on the same day.

"They were looking for a horse with a rating of 95 or above. Celavi (99) qualified and her best form is on dirt, albeit they have just plain sand there," said Clements.

"Hopefully she'll be able to adapt to that. The other internationals are also in the same boat as they have not raced in such deep sand."

The Fighting Sun mare is among four internationals in a field of 13 that have made the cut for the invitational race, which is returning after a two-year absence due to Covid-19. Annaf (Great Britain), Computer Patch (Hong Kong) and Raptus (Japan) are the other three overseas raiders.

Obviously, an even bigger tick to the 2020 Singapore champion trainer's already glittering resume would be a first international win.

But sand is not the only unknown factor. The opposition could be the real quicksand, especially the home team with sprint stars like Morfhis, Black Musk, Eoma Eoma and East Jet.

Regardless of the arduous challenge ahead, the typically laid-back Clements is still going about this exciting new chapter of his training career in his usual methodical manner.

"She leaves next Sunday on Aug 28, they race on Sept 4 and she flies back on Sept 6," he said.

"Most of the work is already done. Louis (Beuzelin) goes there on Wednesday and will probably ride her for some slow work.

"The owners are a mixture of expats and some locals. One or two will go to Korea to watch the race.

"I leave on Monday and I'll be there to oversee her trackwork the whole week. She's well in herself. It's the ideal race for her."

Celavi, however, did not have the perfect send-off. She ran unplaced in the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1,200m) last Sunday week.

To be fair, turf has been the eight-time Polytrack winner's bugbear, even if Clements still refuses to buy that theory.

"I still think she can go on turf, but not with give in the ground, like it was last week. She ran third at her previous start," he said.

"If there's a suitable turf sprint, she'll have another go."