Reigning Horse of the Year Lim’s Kosciuszko dominated again at his back-to-back wins in the $300,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) on Sunday.

The script went to plan after the six-year-old son of Kermadec won the jewel and the third Leg of the STC Super Sprint series in a relative canter.

That win was also a consecutive victory for jockey Wong Chin Chuen, who was his winning partner last year, and a three-in-row for trainer Daniel Meagher, who won his first Lion City Cup with Lim’s Lightning in 2021.

After the $7 favourite jumped as expected, Wong was happy to watch the race unfold in front of Lim’s Kosciuszko as Fame Star (Bernardo Pinheiro) and The August (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) made the running early.

General Command (Bruno Queiroz) also raced handy, giving Wong a perfect sit on Lim’s Kosciuszko within striking distance on the bend with cover, while Super Salute (Manoel Nunes) and $24 second favourite, Golden Monkey (Hugh Bowman), followed in close attendance in fifth and sixth respectively.

Turning for home, all eyes were on Lim’s Kosciuszko. Although Wong sat sitting as quiet as a church mouse at the 300m, another Group 1 win for the pair looked a fait accompli.

Wong pushed the proverbial button at the 250m to put the race beyond doubt. However, Golden Monkey loomed as a serious danger with a furlong to go.

Wong got busy on Lim’s Kosciuszko in the final 100m to see off that admirable challenge from the newly-crowned Singapore Derby winner and held him safely at bay by a length on the line.

Mr Malek (A’Isisuhairi Kasim) ran on well to maintain his excellent sprinting form to finish another one-and-a-quarter lengths back in third, with Kharisma (Marc Lerner) also doing his best work late to grab fourth another half-a-length away.

The winning time was 1 min 8.94secs for the 1200m on the Short Course and Lim’s Kosciuszko’s 15th win in 18 starts took his prizemoney to over $1.7million for the Lim’s Stable.

Meagher had tears of joy after the stable star snagged his fifth Group 1 win, but he did reminded fans that the little champion had bigger fish to fry in the later part of the season.

“I’m relieved,” said the young Australian conditioner to racing presenter Raymond Yong after the race.

“He’s a very good horse and he has done an amazing job for myself, (owner) Mr Lim (Sia Mong) and the whole stable.

“He wins 1200m; he wins 1800m. It’s just a great job by the team once again. He’s a fantastic horse.

“He’ll go to the (Group 1) Raffles Cup (1600m) and then he will go to the (Group 1) Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m). All going well and you never know, he might go for the (Group 1) (Singapore) Gold Cup (2000m).”

The Raffles Cup, QEII Cup and the Singapore Gold Cup makes up the three legs of the Singapore Triple Crown series and they will be held on September 23, October 14 and November 11 respectively.

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