Coming fast wins first-up

Like his name suggests, the smart money came by the lorry loads at the last minute for Coming Fast and the newcomer duly delivered.

Well, when there's smoke, there's fire, right?

Those who jumped on the Coming Fast bandwagon were rewarded with a $9 win payout.

But the Desmond Koh-trained four-year-old Australian-bred outlasted by a short head the horse he toppled as the favourite, Clergyman, in the $20,000 Open Maiden event over 1,200m on the Long Course D in Race 2 at Kranji last night.

Ridden by jockey Noh Senari, Coming Fast jumped swiftly to set a slim lead from Wonosobo, the mount of Ruan Maia, who took the opener on the KY Young-trained Twill Guy.

A length behind came Clarton Supreme and My Sweetheart. Clergyman was next.

Wonosobo stuck to Coming Fast until the final 200m, where Coming Fast broke clear when Noh felt it was time to release the brakes.

Behind, champion jockey Vlad Duric balanced Clergyman up and sent his Stephen Gray-trained mount after the leader.

It looked like he would get up with his great momentum, but Coming Fast fought on tenaciously and held on to win by a short head.

Noh felt lucky to have won and gave top marks to his mount.

"He's such a bold galloper, you know, just let him go to the front by himself and dictate," said Noh.

"Ruan was kind of pressuring me but he gave me a good lead to the straight, you know.

"After this one, I think he can go longer - on the way he gave me up the straight. Yeah, lucky."

Koh also reckoned the Tan Huat Stable-owned chestnut gelding, who was pleasing in his work, would be better over a longer distance.

"He trialled good, and he looks like a horse that wants more distance, you know, so later on, maybe, we'll stretch him out and see," said the Singaporean trainer.

A race after Coming Fast's winning debut came another exciting finish, with seven-year-old Lim's Knight scoring a comeback win by staving off the fast-finishing California by a head in the Class 4 Div 2 event over the Polytrack 1,000m.

Lim's Knight had been honest with the rare bad runs, but he had not won in 10 starts since his last success on Sept 6 last year.

Last night's victory was his seventh in 53 starts, taking his prize money to the $430,000 mark.

It was evident that 3kg-claiming apprentice jockey F Yusoff rode Lim's Knight a treat and deserved the kudos heaped on him.

Yusoff tucked Lim's Knight just behind the Lee Freedman-trained $12 favourite Healthy Star, with Super Posh right beside. California was next, biding his time.

Yusoff took Lim's Knight to challenge Healthy Star on straighening and kicked ahead from the 200m.

Jockey Ryan Munger then brought the Ricardo Le Grange-trained California with a storming run but the winner was safely home by a head.

Winning trainer Daniel Meagher was full of praise for his old galloper and the rider.

"He's a tough, genuine horse. The young fella jumped and he has got great reflex at the gates, doesn't he and put him there," said Meagher.

" Yeah, it's amazing what you can do with these older horses. You just keep them, nice, happy and fresh, He doesn't put in a bad run."

Certain quarters felt Yusoff took off a bit early but Meagher defended his rider.

"We just said, you know, it would be nice if he could keep up two lengths, three at most. But he has got really good reflex this young boy, and the horse put himself there," he said.

"So I don't think he rushed him too much. He got to the front a little too early but, you know, he was there to win. So it was a good effort by the rider."