In a move that is in line with the naming of races to honour past greats such as Jumbo Jet, Saas Fee, Colonial Chief and El Dorado, the Singapore Turf Club has decided to rename the Kranji Sprint as the Rocket Man Sprint, effective from the 2017 racing season.

Run as the second Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series, the Group 3 event over 1200m , which was actually won by the Singapore champion sprinter in 2009, will therefore be held as the Group 3 Rocket Man Sprint (1200m) on 26 March, 2017.

Widely considered as the greatest horse to have raced in Singapore, Rocket Man was certainly the most famous local racing brand to have been exported overseas as well.

Rocket Man (Felix Coetzee) at his historic win in the Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2011.

The son of Viscount bowed out for a well-earned retirement on 4 December 2016 at a farewell ceremony held at Kranji, with an outstanding record of 20 wins, five seconds and one fourth from 27 starts for stakes earnings in excess of $6.7 million, the highest ever amassed by a local racehorse.

Unbeaten in local domestic races – all 17 of them including nine at Group level - the bay gelding tasted defeat only in International Group 1 events, and many times by coming agonisingly close to the supreme glory. He contested nine of them, finding one better in his first four attempts, before finally etching his name in history in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m) in Meydan in 2011 to become the first Singapore-trained horse to win an International Group 1 event.

Two months later, he added a second one to become the first local sprinter to claim the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m) on his home turf. Rocket Man’s third international win came the year before in the 2010 Group 2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

Such international acclaim went a long way in getting Rocket Man regarded as the world’s second-highest rated sprinter in the world behind Sacred Kingdom in 2011 and wonder mare Black Caviar in 2012.

Domestically, he will be remembered for having captured the Lion City Cup a record four years on end from 2009 to 2012. He was also voted Singapore Horse of the Year twice, in 2011 and 2012 and Champion Sprinter four times.