10YO Ichika Bachika hands Ipoh trainer timely birthday gift first-up

IPOH – Seasoned campaigner Ichika Bachika won first-up in Ipoh for trainer Shanmugam Subramaniam and gave him a much-welcomed 53rd birthday present on June 27.

The Australian-bred galloper, now 10 years old, was one of three horses transferred to the Malaysian conditioner recently from Sharee Hamilton’s yard after she relinquished her trainer’s licence in April and became an assistant trainer to Simon Dunderdale.

The son of Moshe began his racing career way back in 2019 and won 10 races for Dunderdale. He then picked up two more wins in Ipoh under Hamilton.

Leading jockey Wong Kam Chong rode Ichika Bachika thrice previously – including in his last two runs in similar races over the 1,400m – without success, but made it count this time.

However, he did not give Wong an easy ride in the RM21,000 (S$6,600) Class 5B event (1,300m).

Owned by the Sky Blue Stable, Ichika Bachika was racing keenly on the inside of runners early, and Wong had to take hold of him and eventually settled in sixth spot until the top of the straight.

At the 400m, Wong attempted to take a run between runners, but the gap closed as quickly as it appeared.

The Malaysian hoop, who pulled off a double earlier atop Qiji Star ($20) and Rocket One ($20), had to hold his mount steady for a number of strides behind runners before another opening presented itself.

This time, he took it and Ichika Bachika was in the clear and gunning for the leader and hot favourite Iron Ruler (Harmeet Singh Gill), who had hit the front at the 200m.

Ichika Bachika ($35) collared Iron Ruler 100m out and drew away in the run home to win by 1¾ lengths. Iron Ruler finished second while Stretchy Four (Rosmizan Suhaimi) was another 2¾ lengths away in third.

The winning time was 1min 18.74sec for the 1,300m on the long course.

“His (Ichika Bachika) win was a bit of a surprise considering that he didn’t do too well here (in Ipoh) in the last two starts,” said Shanmugam of his fourth winner this season.

“Still, it was a nice birthday present.”

Australian jockey Liam Riordan, who has won six races in Kuala Lumpur since his Malaysian stint began in March, got off the mark in Ipoh on his first ride after the Dunderdale-trained Artois ($9) won the Class 4A race (1,400m).

The four-year-old son of Capitalist is now entered in the RM1 million Selangor Mile (1,600m) on July 26. His stablemates Navarre, Guru Fight, Aquitaine, Carolingian, Good Sort and Anjou Crown have also been nominated in the feature event. TURFONLINE