Singapore racing icon Rocket Man dies
Kranji’s most famous racehorse, and only overseas Group 1 winner, succumbs to colic
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Singapore champion horse Rocket Man was given a grand farewell ceremony at Kranji on Dec 4, 2016, surrounded by his immediate connections (from second from left to right) trainer Patrick Shaw, jockey Barend Vorster aboard, and assistant trainers Jacci de Tert and Ricardo Le Grange while then Singapore Turf Club senior vice-president (operations) Lau Kian Heng (far left) presents a basket of carrots.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE TURF CLUB
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
Michael Lee
A little less than 1½ years after Singapore racing died, one of its legends has also breathed his last, Rocket Man.
Singapore’s one and only overseas Group 1 winner died from colic at the ripe old age of 20 in Johannesburg on March 10.
His trainer Patrick Shaw, 69, who lives in Durban, was devastated by the news about the all-time great.
“It’s a very sad day. He was the best horse I ever trained,” said the South African trainer and 2011 Singapore champion trainer who retired in 2016.
“When I think back how he fractured (condylar fracture of the offside cannon bone) his leg at his fifth win when he jumped the shadow that night and came back to go on and win 15 races including three internationals and a record four (Group 1) Lion City Cups (2009 to 2012), what a legend.”
Shaw said that the Australian-bred son of Viscount seemed on the mend after the first bout of colic a week ago, but his condition then took a turn for the worse.
“Last Friday, Emma, his caregiver at the riding school where he stayed, called and said Rocket Man was a bit colicky, which is common for old horses,” said Shaw.
“He was treated and seemed to have come round, but yesterday, he had the runs. It was the complications from salmonella, and the vets didn’t want him to suffer and decided to euthanise him.”
Shaw said his owner Fred Crabbia, who lives in Johannesburg, was not on hand and was understandably distraught by the demise of the horse who put him on the world map.
“Fred wasn’t there when the old boy passed; he couldn’t have handled it,” he said. “But we will all get a chance to visit his grave. He was buried at the riding school.”
The last time Shaw saw Rocket Man alive was in 2023 when he was still a resident at Far End Farm on the Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal nearer Shaw’s home. He drove up with Felix Coetzee, the winning jockey at his historic Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1,200m) win in 2011 as well as the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1,200m) two months later.
“He was fine; Felix even got on his back,” said Shaw. “He actually enjoyed a happy retirement with no health issues until last week.”
Rocket Man moved to Johannesburg after Jane Thomas, Far End’s owner, died in November 2024.
Shaw’s former assistant trainer Ricardo Le Grange was also finding it hard to come to terms with the news as he reminisced about the horse who was never beaten in 17 domestic starts at Kranji.
“He’ll never be forgotten for what he taught us about what champions can do,” said Le Grange, 52, who took over Shaw after he left, operating at Kranji until its closure on Oct 5, 2024.
“We knew he’d eventually pass on, but it’s still a shock he’s gone. I’m very sad but it’s been an absolute privilege to have been part of his journey and he’s left us with such happy memories.
“He was a champion and by far the best horse I’ve worked with, but what stood out the most was his street fighter qualities.
“He wasn’t the biggest horse and he was so laid-back at home, but when he walks into the parade ring on race day, he became a beast. He commanded your attention.”
That fighting spirit was what made the world sit up and take notice, more so at his four close seconds in international Group 1s in the build-up to his Dubai heroics.
His third big overseas win came in Hong Kong in 2010 when he dead-heated with the John Moore-trained One World in the Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m).
A debut winner with Robbie Fradd up on Oct 19, 2008, Rocket Man bookended his career at his fourth Lion City Cup win with Coetzee up on April 29, 2012, but was officially farewelled at a Kranji ceremony on Dec 4, 2016.
Bought for only $54,000, Rocket Man boasts a record of 20 wins, five seconds and one fourth (in the 2011 Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan) from 27 starts for stakes of around $6.7 million, the most ever made by a Singapore-based horse.
The two-time Singapore Horse of the Year (2010 and 2011) was also ranked in 2011 as the world’s second-highest rated sprinter behind Australia’s super mare Black Caviar and ahead of stars like Sepoy, J J The Jet Plane and Sacred Kingdom.
