Pennywise can still pound ’em
Six-year-old lights up dull morning trackwork
Be patient and you could be rewarded.
Pennywise is down to contest Race 10 at Kranji on Saturday and he deserves to be included in the mix when you are marking your tickets for those novelty bets.
The six-year-old was just one of a couple of Saturday runners who graced the training track yesterday and the verdict from those who watched that early morning hit-out was unanimous. He looked in good order.
Taken out by in-form apprentice jockey Krisna Thangamani, Pennywise ran 600m in 40.3sec without being extended.
In a career which stretches back to early 2018, Pennywise has been an honest performer. He scored eight times and was placed on another half dozen occasions.
That said, his last win was way back in late 2019.
That day, in the Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes run over the Polytrack 1,600m, Pennywise motored home under Vlad Duric to land the prize.
Since then, his glory days have nosedived. The best he produced was a second in a Kranji Stakes A race over the sprint trip of 1,200m.
Incidentally, that was at his last start on Aug 8 , when he just failed to take the honours from Caribbean Lady. Only a nostril separated the two.
Krisna rode him in a trial just last week. Indeed, you could say, it was just a stretch-out and he finished almost seven lengths behind the winner, stablemate Senor Don.
Closing in on half a million dollars in prize money, Pennywise might be getting on in years.
But, in his races, he can still come grinding up the straight like an honest brawler.
Also out on the training track was Rich Fortune.
He went over 600m in 39.4sec.
Last time out on Aug 22, he turned in a decent show, finishing fourth in that race won by Huntsman.
At the finish, he was just two lengths behind the winner.
Trained and owned by Leslie Khoo, Rich Fortune has "been there, done that".
He has raced 88 times and, although in the twilight of his career, he still has that hard eye of a contender.
The nine-year-old is one of the reserves in Race 6 on Saturday. If he does get to start, he could be the one to add meat to those novelty bets.
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