The rare combination of Mark Walker and Benny Woodworth teamed up on Sunday to both claim arguably their most important win in Singapore to-date - their first Singapore Gold Cup, thanks to Elite Invincible.

Long earmarked as Gold Cup material, especially after winning the first two Legs of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) and the Group 1 Giovanni Racing Charity Bowl (1600m), the Irish-bred four-year-old by Archarcharch overcame an interrupted prep (due to a fever) towards the $1.35 million Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) with a bold and unexpected on-pace run that saw him stave off a gallant Circuit Land (Ruan Maia) by a head and send trainer and jockey into raptures.

Twice crowned champion trainer in Singapore and five times in his native New Zealand, Walker had yet to lay hands on the Holy Grail since his relocation in 2010.

Elite Invincible (Benny Woodworth) makes a beeline for the winning post in the Dester Singapore Gold Cup.

While he had most of the feature races back home ticked off on his glittering resume, Group 1 wins at Kranji had in contrast not been quite a staple, until Elite Invincible recently broke the duck in the Giovanni Racing Charity Bowl (1600m) in June.

For good measure, Elite Invincible has incidentally brought up Walker’s 500th Kranji winner in the country’s richest and most prestigious domestic race, a race which had eluded him since the very first good horse he took along to Singapore from Matamata, Tell A Tale, ran second to Risky Business in 2010.

Humble as ever, Walker said that well-deserved first Singapore Gold Cup accolade was not just his, but bore the mark of the entire team.

“There is no ‘I’ in team, this has been a team effort, and to make it at my 500th win here is the icing on the cake,” he said.

“It’s a big thrill for (assistant-trainer) Gus and Karen (Clutterbuck), and Eddie. I’ve tried to win the Gold Cup a few times with horses like Tell A Tale at my first year, and Sebrose, and to do it this year with Elite Invincible for the Elite Performance Stable is just so special.

“I always thought he was a Gold Cup horse but he didn’t have an ideal prep. He ran a good race in the Derby, had a spell, but then he spiked a temperature.

“He missed the first two Legs (of the Singapore Triple Crown series, the Group 1 Raffles Cup over 1600m and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup over 1800m), and had two lead-up races over 1200m and 1400m instead.

“These things happen in racing, it put us on the backfoot, but we have to think out of the square. There were 30 days between the 1400m and the 2000m, we knew he had the residual fitness, and Gus and I put our heads together, and it worked.

“When it rained today, I thought he had no chance as he doesn’t like the sting out of the ground. I had even said we might as well leave the horse in his box if it rained, but we didn’t, and it was a genius of a ride by Benny that won us the race.

“From his wide gate (outermost in 16), I had told the Stewards we would ride him back today, and hope he can finish off.

“But he jumped so good – and that’s what makes a great jockey when they take their own initiative. Benny probably thought why drag him back, he might as well use his speed to get him up there and once he crossed to the rails, half the battle was won.

“The rest of the race was all about his class. People forget he nearly won all three Legs of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, and I guess having only 53kgs on his back also helped him today.”

Woodworth, who does not ride for Walker all that often, but does boast one win aboard Elite Invincible earlier in February in a Kranji Stakes B race over 1600m, was savouring that first taste of Gold with an even deeper sense of long overdue reward, even if the Malaysian jockey does have one Gold Cup under his belt, the Penang Gold Cup with Xtherest in 2002.

First of all, his road to Gold has been even longer than Walker’s. Woodworth has been part of the furniture on the Malayan Racing Association (MRA) circuit for more than 25 years, but it’s also been a rollercoaster ride as well.

The Ipoh-born rider was considered as a prodigy in his early days with four champion apprentice jockey titles and one senior title. The naturally-gifted jockey went on to ride around the world with the same success, including winning a Mauritius champion jockey title in 2007.

His star, however, dimmed in the 2010’s, with support – especially from big stables – somehow dwindling, but a decision to call Kranji home around three to four years ago – instead of shuttling back and forth across the Causeway - has turned his fortunes around, with trainer Desmond Koh instrumental to the renaissance of sorts.

Woodworth remarkably enjoyed his best Singapore season last year with three Group wins, headed by the Group 1 Singapore Guineas with Forever Young. It was no flash in the pan, as the revival has shown no letting-up this season with another prolific haul – ninth on 30 winners.

The Singapore Gold Cup was one race he had in vain tried to win for many years. Being a natural lightweight rider, it has not been through a lack of opportunities, but with age catching up, the 45-year-old probably thought his chances of striking gold were getting thinner each year.

As he finally held the golden trophy aloft on that drizzly Sunday afternoon, the popular hoop said it did not get any better than that. He may not say much at interviews, but he is known to wear his heart on his sleeve for big occasions.

Michael Lee STC