Gold Medal Madam ready to go

A filly with a winning name ruled at the five trials which were run off at Sungai Besi on the morning of Aug 4.

For the second time, Gold Medal Madam turned in a gold medal performance and this time it bettered her win on July 21 when she romped in to beat Welcome Banker’s.

That day she clocked 59.38sec for the 1,000m on grass with jockey Khaw Choon Kit up.

It was an impressive show but the Madam was hardly done.

Turning out for her second trial, Gold Medal Madam led the field from barrier to box and, in the process, stopped the clock at an even faster time of 59.13sec.

Trainer Ooi Chin Chin has yet to nominate the Farnan four-year-old for a race in Malaysia but her overseas record tells us that she raced twice as Space Cadet in New South Wales in Australia where, on debut, she took second spot in a 1,100m contest at Nowra.

It is not a flashy record but when combined with her two shows at the trials, she does look like she could be anything she wants to be.

The same could be said for the horse she beat on Aug 4.

Pacific Hawk has also not yet been to the races but the Blue Point four-year-old was competitive in Victoria, Australia where he raced 11 times as Burleigh for one win, three seconds and two third placings.

The lone victory came at the Terang Racecourse where he came with a late winning burst to score an easy win over the 1,206m on Feb 26.

Pacific Hawk took up residence at Jason Ong’s yard on May 30 and this most recent trial was his introduction to racegoers in Malaysia.

Although beaten by a racy filly at the trials, fans in the stands at Sungai Besi would have liked what they saw of this newcomer who came from a long way off at the top of the straight to run home a close second.

Such was his prowess that he left stablemate and third-placed runner, War Finale (Fikri Ismail), five and a half lengths adrift.

It would pay to wait for the day Ong does saddle him for his first race in his adopted country. It could be a winning debut.

The second trial of the morning belonged to Mega Storm.

Like Gold Medal Madam in the opener, Mega Storm was another all-the-way winner but while Gold Medal Madam had to fight hard for the win, Mega Storm cruised in by three lengths.

Like the filly in the first, he too went under the minute-mark when stopping the clock at 59.82sec for Brazilian jockey Bernardo Pinheiro.

Mega Storm did nothing wrong with his previous trainer Ananthen Kuppan, recording two victories from seven starts.

But it has been a long wait between drinks as those victories came on Dec 15, 2024 and April 1, 2025.

Indeed, Mega Storm has yet to show up in a race this season but his win at this most recent trial for his new trainer Jason Lim does suggest that, if there were “issues”, most have been cleared.

It could be mighty interesting to see what the five-year-old New Zealand-bred son of Belardo does when he faces the starter.

Another newcomer to Malaysian racing dominated proceedings in the third heat of the morning.

From the stables of Hamsha Aloysius, Hard To Be Sure led all the way to score a 1 3/4-length win over the Ooi-trained Strong Romantic.

Ridden by Suriya Arunsalam, Hard To Be Sure never gave his rivals a look-in and not at any stage of the trial was he required to do more than what was necessary to secure that win.

The three-year-old rig by Wild Ruler finished the trial with, what looked like, a lot more in the tank.

The only hit-out on the sand track saw Pacific Master (Fikri) hold off a strong challenge from Leatherhead (Jose de Souza) to win by a short head.

In a three-way go, Storm Eighty-Three (Lim) took third, another short head adrift.

Another one from Ong’s team, Pacific Master – who was trialling with blinkers and pacifiers – has not been under the winner’s arch since July 20, 2025.

But the Snitzel seven-year-old has not lost his zest for racing and the win at this most recent trial tells us that he can still pull off a fifth victory.

brian@sph.com.sg