Quechua wins the War in Derby thriller
Michael Lee
12/07/2015
In one of the most riveting finishes to the Emirates Singapore Derby ever seen at Kranji, the 20th edition saw two of Singapore’s best horses fight out the finish the whole length of the straight before Quechua stuck his neck out to hold out a valiant warrior in Singapore Horse of the Year War Affair on Sunday.

Injecting even more spice to the nail-biting joust was Fastnet Dragon who snuck in on the inside to just miss the runner-up spot by a nose, but all honours to Patrick Shaw’s Argentinian-bred Quechua who has now notched up two of the Grand Slam races on the local circuit after he captured the Longines Singapore Gold Cup last November and finished as the first local horse in the Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m) last May when third.

Given a peach of a ride by regular partner Corey Brown in the $1.15 million Group 1 race over 2000m, the son of Pure Prize was always in the gun spot tracking up pacesetter Order Of The Sun (Benny Woodworth) before making his crucial move upon straightening.

In contrast, War Affair (Alan Munro), who was chasing a clean sweep of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge with the first two Legs (Stewards’ Cup and Patron’s Bowl) already done and dusted, had been expending a lot more petrol after being trapped four to five deep, no thanks to his second-worst barrier in 13 (down from 14 after Laughing Gravy was scratched from the original 15-horse field).

War Affair was, however, still travelling comfortably and hopes in the $9 favourite’s corner were still reasonably high as he started looping the field to improve from 10th to be within striking distance at the top of the straight.

It was a case of cream rising to the top as the two best horses emerged from the pack to wage an epic battle from the 400m. With the momentum gathered from the searching run, War Affair looked like he would have the wood on Quechua ($15), but the difference between the cosy ground-saving run in second place and the energy-sapping slog out in no man’s land soon told the story.

The tough journey did take its toll as War Affair peaked on his run, but to his credit, he never shirked the fight while the slightly fresher Quechua stood up to be counted. Storming late on the inside, Fastnet Dragon (Hugh Bowman), the new kid on the block, could upstage both champions with one late sucker punch, but Quechua was in no mood to let this one get away after finishing in the placings at his last five runs.

A brave and tenacious War Affair ran second, agonisingly coming up short in his historic bid to claim the Triple Crown of the 4YO Challenge in its current format - and the $150,000 bonus, while the Leslie Khoo-trained Fastnet Dragon has proven that he could well represent Singapore’s next generation of elite performers.

The other run of the race was definitely Cooptado, Shaw’s Argentinian import who has made amends from his lacklustre first-up run in the SIA Cup to plug on solidly for fourth. The winning time was a moderate 2min 03.14secs.

While it was heartbreak for Team War Affair, who rightly put their warrior’s defeat down to only one culprit, the wide gate, the joy in the Shaw and Mark and Emily Yong’s Avengers Stable was in the same wild proportions as eight months earlier at Quechua’s Gold Cup heroics.

“He’s been such a good horse to us. He’s won the Gold Cup and now the Derby, what more can you ask of him,” said Shaw who was at his second Derby after Our Falstaff in 2006.

“The plan was to go forward today from the wide draw, but I left it to Corey to decide where he wanted him to be.

“I was pretty confident he would be right in it coming to the top of the straight as he’s such a fighter. He dug down real deep when War Affair got to him, and was just too good today. Corey also gave him a great ride.

“He’s going for a well-deserved break now and I will probably bring him back for the Weight-for-Age races as well as the (Panasonic) Kranji Mile, Raffles Cup leading up to the Gold Cup.”

Deflated, but still very proud of War Affair, Tan knows he cannot change the past though he will probably keep playing in his mind ‘what if’ they had drawn an inside gate instead. The Singaporean conditioner is likely to take the same path as Shaw in terms of War Affair’s next campaign.

“We lost because of the wide barrier,” he said glumly.

“He was caught four to five wide but he still ran very well. Don’t forget it was also only the second time he’s run over that kind of distance (first time was the 2200m of the Gold Cup in which his nemesis was again Quechua).

“But Quechua is the better stayer and we’ve lost to him again. It’s disappointing, more so when we’ve come so close.

“He’s going for a short break now and his next target will obviously be the Singapore Triple Crown (Kranji Mile, Raffles Cup and Gold Cup) later in the year.”

The Singapore Derby was to Brown yet another accolade to his growing resume in Singapore where he has been plying his trade in the last three years now, but to the multiple-Group 1 wining Australian jockey, it was even more significant than his first local Group 1 hurrah in the Singapore Gold Cup.

“This win is even more special than the Gold Cup and that’s because it’s been a long build-up towards the Derby,” said the Melbourne Cup-winning hoop.

“He’s been running second and third so many times, but we never lost faith in him. In the Gold Cup, I won’t say it was more expected, but it was not a surprise he won.

“Both wins are good and I’d like to thank the owners as I don’t ride that many horses for them, but they have been good to me by keeping me on this one.”

Brown said that he went into the race with a very simple plan, give him every chance and just bank on his superior stamina at the business end – and the Gods of racing have indeed been kind to his wishes.

“He jumped really well and I was able to get him in a good spot. He was on his best behaviour today and ran relaxed throughout,” said Brown who was in a rich vein of form as he later brought up a hat-trick of wins, including Daniel in the Group 3 Paititi Gold Trophy and Emergency Acceptor Davinci in the Lucky Last.

“He was travelling so good and with the soft run we got, when War Affair went to him at the corner, I told myself he would have to be a very good horse to beat us. We were far from done.

“When I gave him a squeeze, he started rolling and he is such a tradesman you know, nothing flash, but he just gives 200% every time.”

With the Derby win, his fifth success in only 13 starts, Quechua has now brought his earnings past the $2 million mark for the Avengers Stable.