Fortune Rising to a high five

Such is its appeal that, like it has been in years gone by, the running of the Merdeka Cup will fill seats at the Selangor Turf Club.

The crowd will be there on Aug 30 and there will be patriotic shouts of “Merdeka”. The National anthem will be sung and the Malaysian flag will be raised.

Then will come the big race, the Merdeka Cup which will be run over 1,800m and has been slotted in as the ninth event on the 11-race programme.

But this year, racegoers will have another reason to be at the racecourse, the Supreme A race coming up in the seventh.

It is a 1,100m sprint where one runner will draw the most attention, Fortune Rising, who is bidding to continue his unbeaten streak of four wins in a row, all recorded in Sungai Besi.

So far, he has not put a hoof wrong and, right now, there is little reason to expect anything different from him on race day.

The five-year-old is on the up and up, and is getting better race by race, as was evidenced by his training gallop on the morning of Aug 26.

The Winson Cheng Han Yong-trained son of Alabama Express returned in mint condition.

Ridden by apprentice jockey Gordon Lim Weng Hooi, Fortune Rising was not out to break any record as he ran the 600m in 41.3sec after a spot of cantering.

Cheng, who came away with two winners at the just-concluded Selangor meeting, has seldom been disappointed since taking over Fortune Rising’s handling from trainer Richard Lim.

A two-time winner in Sydney when trained as Shangri La Express by the leading partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Fortune Rising began his Malaysian charge through the racing ranks when he won an Open race over 1,200m on debut on March 8.

Three weeks later, on March 29, he made it two on the trot when taking out another 1,200m race by three parts of a length.

He was under Lim’s responsibility at those first two successes.

After he was transferred over to Cheng, he had a three-month break before signalling his return with a slashing win in a Class 2 race over 1,100m on July 11.

He made it four when winning an Open race over 1,300m, the Selangor Silver, on July 26.

From the way he has been building on his local racing career, there is no reason why he should not carry on in the same vein this Sunday.

The morning workouts on Aug 26 also featured a sparkling gallop from Merdeka Cup candidate Secret Phantom.

Taken out by jockey Jackson Low Kang Cheng, the Irish-bred five-year-old son of New Bay reeled off the 600m in 39.1sec.

A last-start winner over the 1,600m on Aug 16, Secret Phantom should easily see out the extra 200m he has to cover on Aug 30.

Trained by Nick Selvan whose yard scored a double at the latest meeting, Secret Phantom is on the ascendancy, and now that he has finally got that first win at his fifth start, he should be ready to take on Malaysia’s cream of the crop.

Elsewhere on the card, keep a watchful eye on Mega First.

Down to contest the Class 3 and 4 race over 1,700m, he cantered off to loosen up under bang-in-form jockey Bernardo Pinheiro before gobbling up the 600m in 36.6sec.

Another Irish-bred from Selvan’s barn, Mega First has been a model of consistency. The Kodi Bear three-year-old’s last six runs – all at Sungai Besi – produced a win, two seconds and three thirds.

The win in a Class 4A (1,600m) on June 21 was his second following his debut victory in an Open Maiden (1,200m) on Jan 24.

Selvan has found a winnable sort of race for Mega First and if he carries his training form into the race on Aug 30, he could finish ahead of the rest.

brian@sph.com.sg