Elite Prince holds court
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Elite Prince (Wong Chin Chuen) winning the Class 2 race (1,100m) in a hands-canter at Sungai Besi on Aug 22.
PHOTO: SLTC
KUALA LUMPUR – A seven-month break seemed to have done Elite Prince a world of good after he went back-to-back for another smashing win at Sungai Besi on Aug 22.
Trained by Winson Cheng Han Yong, the son of Bon Hoffa won by 3¼ lengths in a Class 2 event (1,300m) on Aug 9.
He followed that up with another runaway victory in the RM50,000 (S$15,800) Class 2 contest (1,100m).
For good measure, the five-year-old galloper kept runner-up Duma (Bernardo Pinheiro) at arm’s length all the way at his fourth success.
Gold Medal Rose (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) was brilliantly away and led briefly, but Elite Prince – ridden by Wong Chin Chuen – quickly surged to the front upon settling down.
Duma, who finished unplaced in the Selangor Mile (1,600m) last start, gave chase but made no headway on the leader.
The Frank Maynard-trained galloper went down by 2½ lengths.
Banker’s Victory (Jordan Mallyon) finished another ¾ length away in third.
The winning time for the 1,100m on the short course was 1min 03.35sec.
Wong, who also won aboard Elite Prince in his last start, said the Australian-bred has trained on.
“He backed up well from his last run, maintaining his form and the distance was not a concern,” said the Penang-born jockey.
“I jumped him well, got him to the front and settled him well.
“I got the same response as in his last start. He kicked on very well in the straight today.”
Cheng gave credit to Wong for Elite Prince’s win.
“CC controlled the pace well and Elite Prince is definitely on the upgrade,” said the young Malaysian handler.
“I am looking forward to the next few months and having some fun with him.
“My stables have quite a few ‘Group 1’ horses coming up soon.”
That victory took Elite Prince’s record to five wins and three placings from nine starts.
Earlier, Cheng’s Storm Chaser ($10) appreciated a drop in class to score an effortless victory in the Class 4 race (1,150m) on the No. 2 track.
The Divine Prophet six-year-old galloper placed twice in three runs in that class, but was unplaced in two starts in Class 3 after being promoted.
With apprentice jockey Lim Weng Hooi’s 4kg-claim this time, Storm Chaser carried only 55kg and led from start to finish to win by 4¼ lengths.
Wong also pulled off a double, winning on newcomer Gold Medal Madam ($8) for trainer Ooi Chin Chin in the Open Maiden event over 1,200m in Race 5. SELANGOR TURF CLUB/TURFONLINE