Safeer springs a mini upset despite bad gate
  Story By Sharon Zhang     

Saturday, 15 June 2019: Safeer bounced back to the winner’s circle after more than eight months when he powered home to lower the colours of hot favourite Grand Koonta in a driving finish on Saturday.

Safeer winning the CLASS 3
Safeer winning the CLASS 3


The four-year-old son of Savabeel last scored in the Kranji Stakes C Division 1 race over 1200m in September when the race was slated as the third leg of the Premier Gateway International Jockeys Challenge, under champion South African jockey Aldo Domeyer, who plies his trade in Hong Kong nowadays.

The Michael Clements-trained Safeer   was left to smoke his pipe at the rear before charging home to run third at his last start, but first-time partner Joseph Azzopardi elected to stay in midfield this time, following right behind $8 hot favourite Grand Koonta (Michael Rodd).

Caorunn (John Powell) led the field of 13 into the straight, with Al Green (Krisna Thangamani) and Dragon Duke (Benny Woodworth) quick to pounce on the weakening leader at the 300m.

Meanwhile, Grand Koonta was set alight on the outside by Rodd in the hope that he could get that hat-trick of wins. However, the son of Dark Angel had not reckon with Safeer ($64) who edged past on the outside and went on to prevail by a short head.

Dragon Duke finished another one-and-a-half-lengths away in third. Newcomer Threeandfourpence (Ben Thompson), who had two wins from 10 starts in Ireland, UK, Dubai and US, did well to come home in fifth at his first start at Kranji, only three-and-a-quarter-lengths away from the winner.

The winning time was 1min 9.76secs for the 1200m on the Long Course. 

Assistant trainer Michael White was on hand to welcome the team’s 31st winner for the season, incidentally their second winner for the weekend after Loving You scored in a Class 4 Division 1 race on Friday night.

The Australian horseman worked with Perth trainer Simon Miller for some years  prior to coming to Singapore, and he knew Azzopardi from then.

He applauded Azzopardi for his judgement of the race, and that the young jockey from Perth is a worthy addition to the riding ranks at Kranji.

“Obviously, we thought it’d be hard from that barrier (12) because of the good field, but he got a 14 out of 10 ride from Joey,” said White.

“It’s not really a surprise that he won, because he’s been so luckless for such a long time through bad barriers. He had no luck.

“Joey summed up the race perfectly. He got a cover and put him in a perfect spot, then found the right horse and he was just too good in the end.

“I’ve known him since he was a kid, and I know he has always been a huge talent. He’s hungry for wins and there’s a whole lot of future ahead of him.

“I will just keep the horse ticking over. He’s probably just a Class 3 horse, but he’s genuine, so it’s great that he picked up a win today.”

The 24-year-old rider whom returned to race-riding on June 7 after a one-month foul-riding ban, has now seven winners under his belt since the commencement of his three-month visiting contract on April 5.

“The barrier was a bit of concern today, but the race panned out perfect,” said Azzopardi.

“We ended up at the back of Grand Koonta and I had to be really patient and wait.

“He had a good turn of foot in the end. It was a strong race today, but he is honest and always thereabouts.

“Winners always make things easy and I’ll be here for a while, so hopefully I can get a few more.”

With his four wins and three placings from 18 starts, Safeer has amassed more than $180,000 in prizemoney for the Al-Arabiya Stable.