Indeed, he’s Big Hearted
Gold Cup winner makes light of 59.5kg to win
He was carrying the "grandstand", but reigning Singapore Gold Cup winner Big Hearted's sheer class took him to victory in Saturday's $85,000 Kranji Stakes B event over 1,400m on turf.
Shouldering the joint-top weight of 59.5kg, the Michael Clements-trained four-year-old duly justified his $9 favourite's tag with a 1/2-length win over stablemate On Line in 1min 22.11sec.The Shane Baertschiger-trained co-top weight Preditor ran a gallant third, 3/4 lengths behind.
"He did feel the big weight in the end, but his class prevailed," said winning jockey Louis-Philippe Beuzelin.
Given the small nine-horse field in the 1,400m race, the French jockey felt a middling tempo would be exacerbated further by the top impost.
But, as it turned out, his mount allayed those worries with a superior display that showed the next level he has gone to since his Singapore Gold Cup heroics last November.
After a moderate jump, Big Hearted was parked mid-pack - not too far adrift as is his regular routine but not too far ahead either, which would otherwise see him ridden even more upside down.
Noted front-runners Augustano (apprentice jockey Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui) and Passport To Rome (Matthew Kellady) did not muck around in front, with the pace not slackening at any stage.
In the box-seat, last-start runner-up Preditor (Danny Beasley) was in the zone, duly pouncing on the leaders upon cornering.
But the clear and present danger was hailing from the outside. Storming in with a big run, Big Hearted had the race shot to pieces when he punched to the lead at the 250m mark.
That was when Beuzelin's second apprehension proved to be not totally unfounded. Hard- ridden, Big Hearted could not quite put the race away under the 59.5kg.
With stable companion On Line (Simon Kok Wei Hoong) weaving his way through with a sizzling run, the line could come up a fraction late, but it didn't.
Running on courage as his name suggests, Big Hearted held his Falcon Racing No. 7 stablemate.
"I was worried about the pace. If they stack up the speed, that could work against us," said Beuzelin. "But he had a good run throughout and he did it very easy in the end."
Big Hearted may have another lead-up race in a fortnight's time before his ultimate target - the $ 1 million Group 1 Kranji Mile over 1,600m on May 22 .
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