Winning Done, Ototo star with last-gasp barrier trial wins at Sungai Besi
Popeyethesailorman bucks trend with a seven-length romp in the last KL hit-out
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Winning Done (Lim Shung Uai, inside) and Dream Alliance (Zulhilmi Mazuki) staging a ding-dong battle which the former won by a nose in the opening Sungai Besi barrier trial on March 31.
PHOTO: SELANGOR TURF CLUB
Brian Miller
Two tight finishes on turf and a runaway winner on the sand track at Sungai Besi summed up the trials which were run off on the morning of March 31.
In the opener, Winning Done and Dream Alliance would have had trial watchers off their seats as they watched the two gallopers fight it out to the line.
Locked together as one, they punched the breeze, traded blows and went stride for stride over the final furlong of that 1,000m hit-out.
It was a good piece of riding from Lim Shung Uai which carried his brother-trainer Lim Shung You’s Winning Done to a nose win in a smart time of 59.75sec.
Jumping from the advantageous inside gate in that field of five, Winning Done was neatly into stride and after the field had sorted themselves out, he had Dream Alliance (Zulhilmi Mazuki) at his withers.
Golden Payout, from Tan Eng Peow’s yard, seemed resigned to the fact that the leaders were too far gone and third place was all he could muster.
Turning for home and Winning Done and Dream Alliance were locked together like Siamese twins.
From there they were inseparable and it was Lim’s persistence in the saddle which drove Winning Done to that narrow win.
A newcomer to Malaysian racing, Winning Done has yet to make his debut. But, on the Pinatubo four-year-old’s overseas record where he won a race as Pinmoney at Naas in County Kildare in Ireland, Winning Done should do well in his adopted land.
As for Dream Alliance, he has been there and done that.
To date the Into Mischief seven-year-old has won five races but all of them were when he was under the care of trainer Tim Fitzsimmons at Kranji.
Now with Frank Maynard, he has had six winless starts in Malaysia, including five at Sungai Besi. But he seems to be coming to hand and we should soon see him paying for his keep.
Shortly after Winning Done’s win, the Lim brothers recombined for another win. The two leaders in Trial Two, Mr Wind and Defoe (Zulhilmi), were caught napping when, from out of nowhere, Ototo charged down on the inside to catch the pair.
Ototo would eventually beat Mr Wind by a head, with Defoe another head away in third spot.
Ototo, who took the second trial in a time of 1min 00.56sec, is a tried and tested six-year-old chestnut by Written Tycoon.
Right now he has won two races. The first was at Kranji in 2023 when trained by Donna Logan and his latest was for Lim in Kuala Lumpur on July 27.
That day, under Mohd Zaki, he took out a 1,300m race, beating Red Sun by half-a-length.
His last four starts going back to Nov 30 have produced a second and a third placing. A comeback win should not be too far away.
Mr Wind, who ran second in that trial, has raced just twice in Malaysia but trainer Winson Cheng Han Yong has sent him out for six trials. That latest showing could be viewed as his best to date.
The Australian-bred four-year-old by Vino Rosso might need a couple more races before he is ready for his winning break, but he is getting there.
However, just when tight finishes seemed to be the order of the day, the third and final trial of the morning broke the trend.
From trainer Richard Lines’ yard and ridden by Jose de Souza, Popeyethesailorman ran home a 7½- length winner from Top Show (Uzair Sharudin), with Popeyethesailorman’s stable companion Mega Crusader (Ruzaini Supien) filling that third placing.
