Fast Famous on the right track for a smart debut

Three weeks between barrier trials can make a huge difference in horse racing.

Fast Famous bombed at his last trial on Sept 22, finishing fourth of eight and some 5¼ lengths behind the winner Silver Bullet.

On Oct 13, at his second trial at Sungai Besi when taken out by Oscar Chavez, Fast Famous led from barrier to box in the third of the six trials run that morning.

The Sivan Veerapen-trained son of Ferrando never faltered to score by a length from Hard To Be Sure (Jordan Mallyon), with Kim Kim (Jackson Low Kang Cheng) in third, another neck away.

A three-year-old New Zealand-bred, Fast Famous arrived in Sivan’s yard on May 22.

With that barrier trial win under the belt, his racing debut should not take long to materialise.

Fast Famous showed fluent action in this latest gallop and he could be ready to start paying for his keep.

Whether it is at the trials or the races, the Banker’s Stable again made their presence felt.

Banker’s Pretty (Johari Kamaruddin) came from second spot at the 600m mark to claim a short-head victory over Storm Chaser, hard ridden by apprentice jockey Lim Weng Hooi.

Hidden in the haze and some five lengths adrift was Lucky Magic (Haikal Hanif) who took third.

But on the morning with the track rated “yielding” it was all about Banker’s Pretty.

The six-year-old mare by Starspangledbanner stopped the clock at 58.21sec which turned out to be the swiftest time recorded in the six trials.

Winless in her last four starts, she last tasted victory with Kamaruddin aboard on July 19 in a Class 2 race over the 1,200m.

She flew in to beat stablemate Banker’s Dream by 2½ lengths.

However, when carrying support in her next four starts, the best she could do was a third placing behind Elite Prince in a 1,300m race on Aug 9.

To date, Banker’s Pretty has just one win to show for her 15 starts in Malaysia.

She deserves better and, on the strength of her show at this most recent trial, she could soon return to the winner’s circle.

Another one for the notebook could be Swift Victory.

Under Haikal, he came from fourth to take the second trial by a neck from Good Luck Boss (Ruzaini Supien) in the smart time of 59.35sec.

From Cheng Han Yong’s yard, Swift Victory has yet to post a win in Malaysia but he is getting there.

The Derryn four-year-old was at the trials by order of the club’s veterinary team after he displayed signs of respiratory distress after his last start on Sept 27.

Now that Swift Victory has passed his test and is eligible to race, it could be an opportunity for him to finally put a “1” beside his name.

brian@sph.com.sg