A fantastic four-timer on Sunday not only ended trainer Patrick Shaw’s lean spell in the last two months, but also catapulted him into the Top 10 of the Singapore trainer’s log,  writes Michael Lee. 

Starting the day on 25 wins, Shaw rocketed up to 10th place, leapfrogging over Michael Clements, Stephen Gray, Desmond Koh and Sam Chua, to be only two wins shy of Steven Burridge on 31 winners.

Shaw, who just came back from his holidays in his native South Africa last week, had had a quiet time by his standards of late with only three winners in June and one in July to show for, but Rock Esprit, Spyder, Vertical Start and Lucky Dapper have come at the right time to reignite his campaign in the best possible way.

With first-choice jockey Barend Vorster currently sidelined by a minor injury (hurt right leg after Johnny Guitar played up in the gates in the Emirates Singapore Derby on July 13), Rock Esprit ($16), Spyder ($50) and Lucky Dapper ($22) gave in-form Mauritian jockey Nooresh Juglall a treble while it was Australian jockey John Powell who was given the call-up aboard Vertical Start ($55) in the $80,000 Kranji Stakes C race over 1700m.

The Argentinian-bred four-year-old by Jump Start was being tested for the first beyond the mile at Kranji, but Shaw had every reason to believe his charge would answer the question without any major problem, even if his form had nosedived since his last win three starts back in a Kranji Stakes B race over 1400m.

Tenth at his last two runs, Vertical Start was a different proposition on Sunday when he bounced back to his brilliant best, following a smart ride from Powell.

Settled in third from the start, Vertical Start never left the rails before he reached the home turn where he was peeled out for his run by Powell. Accomplished (John Sundradas) fought on gamely, but could not stave off the challenge from Shaw’s ward, who strode clear before digging into his reserve to hold Neobium (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) at bay and score by a neck.

Accomplished, who had to do it tough punching the breeze outside leader Brilliant Deal (Alan Munro) from the start, ran third separated by the same margin. The winning time was 1min 49.2secs for the 1700m on Polytrack.

“We had to get him down to the ground. He’s won over 1400m as a two-year-old in Argentina,” said Shaw.

“When he won over 1400m, he flew when he saw daylight in the last 100m, and Barend told me he would settle better over more ground.

“JP rode him a cracker. We knew if he could settle, he could win the race.

“I’m very happy for the stable and also for the owners, Bernard Kantor and Larry Nestadt.”

Powell said he may have seen daylight a little early, but was glad he was in the end able to repay the trust Shaw shows him once in a while, especially when Vorster is unavailable.

“The speed was just nice for him. He switched off good and was travelling relaxed all the way,” said Powell, who was at a race-to-race double having scored earlier aboard newcomer Scrat for trainer Cliff Brown.

“I might have gone a fraction early. I wanted to hide him away behind horses for another 50m, but I had to come out at the home turn.

“But luckily, the race worked out good in the end. I’m just happy to be the one who got the ride from Pat.”

With that third win from 14 starts, Vertical Start has now brought his earnings past the $150,000 mark for the Kantor & Nestadt Stable.