Shane and Ricardo reach half-century mark
Treble takes Baertschiger to 52 winners and Le Grange gets the Big 50 with double
Trainer Shane Baertschiger made it a night to remember yesterday with a 100 per cent success, saddling a treble with three winners which took his season's tally to 52.
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange enjoyed a double and has also reached the half-century mark for the season.
Baertschiger has always maintained that an annual 50-winner mark will be a good haul and his first runner, Guilty Pleasures, gave him his 50th winner in Race 3 last night.
The lanky Australian trainer affectionately called "Stretch" at Kranji went on to capture winner No. 51 two events later in Race 5 with Shaqraa and in the Lucky Last with Elite Star.
Mind you, yesterday was just the final meeting of September and not the season.
There is still two-and-a-quarter months before the curtain falls on the 2017 Singapore racing season and it looks like Baertschiger will get to savour his best season since he took over from his father Don in 2012.
In his first year, he did exceptionally well with 43 winners, followed by 49 in 2013, 50 in 2014, 44 in 2015 and 52 last year.
For Le Grange, the Big 50 with wins from Super Denman in Race 2 and Saraab in Race 7 was a big milestone, considering it is only his first season since inheriting Patrick Shaw's stables
Both trainers paid tribute to their teams for the good results.
"Quite amazing, you know. I just have to firstly say I am exceptionally humbled to be in this position and grateful to a great team," said Le Grange.
"You can never do it on your own. I am just the lucky man at the moment, you know, with all these lovely horses and the owners who supported me."
Baertschiger said: "Yeah, we've been having a good run, you know. A lot of hard work from the staff. It's a team effort. Hopefully, it continues.
"I think my best was 52 winners so hopefully, can get into 60 will be a good year."
Guilty Pleasures' deserving win - his fifth from 33 starts and fourth on the Polytrack - was the result of a good ride from Kellady.
Drawn gate 1, the rider stuck to the rail for the shortest route home in the Open Benchmark 67 Div 2 event over the Polytrack 1,100m.
My best bet Webster had to use up some petrol to get to the front and then was ruffled by Premier Fighter, who slipped up on the inside to vie for the lead.
When jockey Manoel Nunes asked Webster to go at the 250m mark, his mount gave but just for a few strides. The $13 favourite then backpedalled quickly.
A wall of horses charged up to make it an interesting affair but Kellady managed to extract something from Guilty Pleasures to win by a head from Dream Comes True.
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