With the dreaded second-run syndrome behind and a set of blinkers to perk her up, Petite Voix made it third-time lucky at Kranji last night.
It was certainly a different Petite Voix, with the vast improvement and the aid of the new gear, as the Lee Freedman-trained and Arexevan-Small Voice Stable-owned four-year-old mare hammered her Maiden rivals by 21/4 lengths in Race 4.
In the process, Petite Voix set a new class record of 59.40sec for the Poly 1,000m, eclipsing Sun Pioneer's 59.64sec.
Costing only A$5,000 (S$5,000) as a yearling, Petite Voix did quite well in Australia, finishing second three times from six starts. She showed promise in her Kranji debut but overraced a bit to finish third.
That impressive run made the small bay mare the $8 favourite second-up but she faded to finish seventh after setting the pace. She veered in at one stage of the Polytrack 1,100m event.
It was back to the drawing board. The decision to fix the blinkers was made and Petite Voix finished a good second in her trial with the gear with a new rider, Michael Rodd, replacing Daniel Moor, who was aboard in the mare's two earlier starts.
The confidence was there last night, as Petite Voix overtook Sun Fei as the favourite and ran like one.
Rodd parked the mare just behind $82 outsider Vistara and got to work once they straightened. He got Petite Voix to the front easily at the 300m mark and, from there, it was all about one horse. Petite Voix beat Raptor to pay $13 for a win. Sun Fei ran third.
Earlier in Race 2, there was high drama when the favourite Theagensofthasos charged through the gate in the Restricted Maiden event over 1,400m, triggering a false start. Jockey Ryan Curatolo was also dislodged from that horse.
A few riders realised it was a false start and started easing up their mounts. But the rest rode on.
Racecaller Nicholas Child felt something was amiss, saying: "Can't possibly be a race, we'll call it anyway."
After going with the pace, Foresto, ridden by Glen Boss, went on to "win" the race.
All the riders were called into the Stewards' Room, with some riders saying they heard the false start siren.
Acting under a racing rule, the race was declared void and all bets were refunded.
Foresto would have been Freedman's first leg of a double.
Friday's South Africa results
RACE 1
1st 7 Tune The Scope ($16-$6)
2nd 1 Emerito ($10)
3rd 6 Pomaceous ($6)
4th 5 Little Drummer Boy
Forecast $35
Place Forecast (1-7) $11, (6-7) $3, (1-6) $8
Tierce $150
Trio $21
Quartet $1,307
RACE 2
1st 1 Supreme Winter ($8-$5.10)
2nd 9 Jimmy Twist ($8)
3rd 2 Sunny ($8)
4th 7 Sheru
Forecast $6
Place Forecast (1-9) $3, (1-2) $4, (2-9) $5
Tierce $22
Trio $7
Quartet $15
RACE 3
1st 7 Velvet Thunder ($37-$10)
2nd 1 Countess Cantabria ($10)
3rd 9 Elusive Fountain ($10)
4th 13 Tree Of Life
Forecast $42
Place Forecast (1-7) $13, (7-9) $13, (1-9) $12
Tierce $750
Trio $41
Quartet No winner ($156 jackpot carried forward to next race)
Scratchings: 2 Estimet, 14 Wait A Sec
RACE 4
1st 2 The Dictator ($72-$14)
2nd 6 King Of Fortune ($16)
3rd 3 Conquering King ($7)
4th 9 Call The Chief
Forecast $154
Place Forecast (2-6) $33, (2-3) $13, (3-6) $16
Tierce $2,190
Trio $191
Quartet No winner ($680 carried forward)
RACE 5
1st 6 Union Jack ($17-$10)
2nd 1 Stormy Eclipse ($14)
3rd 5 Afrikaburn ($6)
4th 9 Paper Town
Forecast $19
Place Forecast (1-6) $10, (5-6) $9, (1-5) $14
Tierce $97
Trio $27
Quartet $887, ($959 carried forward)
RACE 6
1st 4 Kiftsgate ($20-$8)
2nd 8 Zevenastic ($16)
3rd 9 Valentinik ($21)
4th 7 Cock-A-Hoop
Forecast $45
Place Forecast (4-8) $13, (4-9) $21, (8-9) $74
Tierce $752
Trio $196
Quartet $1,997, ($1,644 carried forward)
RACE 7
1st 3 Star Burst Galaxy ($27-$9)
2nd 2 Beataboutthebush ($8)
3rd 1 Via Seattle ($9)
4th 5 Secret Star
Forecast $20
Place Forecast (2-3) $6, (1-3) $19, (1-2) $14
Tierce $170
Trio $43
Quartet $534
Scratching: 6 Our Destiny
