Khoo pins hopes on his racy mare
He will throw the dice with Claudia's Beauty in Sunday's Charity Bowl
Could the Charity Bowl on Sunday be the race where jockey-turned-trainer Leslie Khoo picks up his first piece of Kranji silverware?
The local trainer, who set up shop here in 2008 after plying his trade across the Causeway, thinks so. Or rather, hopes so.
That is probably why he has decided to throw his last-start winner Claudia's Beauty into the deep end - hoping she will swim.
Khoo has been toying with Singapore Derby ideas for Claudia's Beauty for a while, especially after the four-year-old mare's slashing last win, but when her rise in the ratings made her eligible for the Charity Bowl, he said, "Why not?"
Previously known as the Patron's Bowl and carrying a purse of $500,000 the Group 1 feature has had a change of name and, with it, a lumpsum increase of prizemoney. It is now worth a whopping $1 million.
So it is, come Sunday, the daugher of Daliapour will line up against the likes of Countofmontecristo, Elite Invincible and Jupiter Gold. That's quite a step-up for the mare who has now won three from eight, with two of them being over the mile - which is what they will cover in the Charity Bowl.
"I'd actually set her for the Derby as I think she's more of a 1,800m-2,000m mare, but there was a chance to run in the Charity Bowl, and we thought why not?" said Khoo who won the Singapore Derby as a jockey with Grand Illusion in 1988 at the Bukit Timah Racecourse and came agonisingly close to landing it as a trainer with Fastnet Dragon when a smack-up third to War Affair in 2015.
"It's a tough field she will run against, but she's an up-and-coming mare and has maintained her form. She gets a 1.5kg allowance for mares (55.5kg against 57kg for males), which is better than nothing.
"I asked Ryan Curatolo (won on her at her first win in January) to ride her, but he was already booked. It's CC Wong (Chin Chuen) who will ride her."
Curatolo will partner the likely favourite Countofmontecristo.
Wong, rode her in trackwork yesterday morning and jumped off saying that Claudia's Beauty, who was paired up with a stablemate, was very responsive when given a squeeze on the Polytrack.
"It was a very nice workout," said Wong. "She worked very well in the straight."
Well enough to give her handler a huge present on Sunday? We shall see.
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