Singapore owner gets Golden Slipper ticket

For someone who likes to name his horses after days of the week and months of the calendar year, time came to a standstill for Eric Koh on Oct 5, 2024.

It was that day of infamy when Singapore racing was consigned to the dustbin of history.

Like many local racing fans and sympathisers from around the world, Koh mourned the demise of a sport he loved dearly, but that did not mean the prominent Singaporean owner’s passion for the game had died there and then.

Gone might be the heyday of leading in his numerous winners at Kranji on home soil, but he decided nobody could stop him from still experiencing that sheer joy elsewhere.

Next-door Malaysia was the more practical alternative, but Koh was eyeing further horizons – Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

Not only did he cast his net wider to more competitive jurisdictions, but he was also not going in to be a bit player.

First, he went solo, buying his Thai partner’s shares and splashing the cash in quality stock.

Only 1½ years after the ground had been cut from under his feet, Koh is reaping the rewards of his bold gamble with one winner after another.

That new lease of life as a global owner has now reached history-making heights on March 7.

A select few Singaporeans have enjoyed Group success overseas, such as Jayven See with Tagaloa in the 2020 Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes, but Koh went one better.

Watching the races from Singapore, Koh had barely come down to earth after capturing his first overseas feature (other than in Malaysia) with Sweynesday in the NZ$250,000 (S$188,000) Group 3 King’s Plate (1,200m) at Ellerslie, Auckland.

Forty-five minutes later and across the Tasman Sea, he incredibly doubled the dose with Chayan ($16) in the A$300,000 (S$269,000) Group 2 Reisling Stakes (1,200m) at Royal Randwick in Sydney.

“It was a good day at the races,” said Koh in his usual laid-back style. “Okay, it was quite an amazing day.”

However, the Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained Chayan’s victory added another layer that could potentially make the offshore dual-Group feat – a first for any Singaporean owner – pale in comparison in a fortnight.

The I Am Invincible filly, who cost Koh A$250,000 at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, has after March 7’s win, earned a ticket to the world’s richest two-year-old race, the A$5 million Group 1 Golden Slipper (1,200m) on March 21.

“I’ve booked my ticket to Sydney. It’s a race, along with the Blue Diamond, that I’ve always dreamed of winning,” said Koh.

“Mr Zhang (Yuesheng of China powerhouse outfit Yulong) and I have always shared the same dream and we spoke about it many times.”

Interestingly, Chayan was only third or fourth in Koh’s pecking order of the draft of yearlings he bought himself.

“I shortlisted and inspected her myself and she was my top pick at Day 1 of the sale,” he said.

“She was proportionate, of good size, and she had a solid chest. I estimated she might fetch A$275 to 300,000, so I was happy I got her for A$250,000.

“I put her in my Top 5 among the 14 horses I currently have, including two in New Zealand, but not in the top two.

“My No 1 pick was that good filly, Save The Lady, with Mick Price, but she caught an infection and was put down before she could race.

“It was only after Annabel asked me if Chayan was entered in the 2YO series that I thought maybe she had the ability.

“She ran second on debut in the Blue Diamond Prelude but she drew 13 in the Blue Diamond. She still ran seventh.”

Getting into a race thousands of Australian owners dream of, but only a few pull off, is only half the battle won.

Koh could not have hoped for a better confidence booster, though.

“James McDonald called 20 minutes after the Blue Diamond and asked Annabel where the filly was heading,” said Koh.

“She told him she was going where he would ride her – and now they got a free slot.”

Even if Koh’s nights for the next two weeks may well be filled with fairy-tale dreams of a slipper that fits, he was also thrilled with Sweynesday (Masa Hashizume), already a six-time winner from only 10 starts for trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood in New Zealand.

“If Alabama Lass did not smash into the rails close home, Sweynesday would not have won,” said Koh of his five-year-old with the clever portmanteau of his sire Sweynesse and Wednesday.

“Luckily both horse and jockey (Samantha Collett) are okay, but we were also lucky.

“I actually bought Sweynesday and another horse named December for Singapore, but I raced them in New Zealand when Singapore shut down. The two of them have won 10 races between them now.

“I’ve also got nine wins in Australia, six of them from Shaalute for trainer Matt Laurie (of Treasurethe Moment fame). October and June, who ran fourth today with Vlad Duric in Brisbane, won one each for Tony and Maddysen Sears.”

Koh, who has four horses in Ireland, also shed light on why all his Australasian horses sport the Falcon sky blue colours and not his Team Cheval black and gold silks.

“I thought I was doing better in the Falcon colours than the Team Cheval colours,” he said.

“Falcon have completely left racing since I took over the last batch, but they were okay for me to keep using their colours, for which I’m very grateful.”

manyan@sph.com.sg