Rookie Nizar lands juicy $267 outsider
Arc Triumph gives trainer James Peters the first of his two Sunday winners
Five races before Excelling romped home to upset the favourites in Sunday's Group 2 Merlion Trophy in Race 12, another big-priced winner saluted.
If you thought Excelling paid an eye-popping dividend of $130 for the win, Arc Triumph's $267 payout in Race 7 would have had you in wonderment.
And that was how some lucky punters would have reacted when the Showcasing six-year-old ran away with the goodies in the Better Than Ever Stakes - a Class 3 race over the flying 1,000m on the Polytrack.
Unsighted early and seemingly out for a Sunday stroll, Arc Triumph came into the reckoning only at the top of the straight, when he spun out the widest to give pursuit.
He still had around four lengths to make up, but, well ridden by apprentice jockey Mohammad Nizar, he lengthened steadily on the outside to finish ahead of his rivals.
Race-favourite and debutant Master Ryker (Vlad Duric) came home with a fast-closing run as well and would have lived up to the hype, if not for Arc Triumph regaining his winning form.
Magnifique (Marc Lerner) also made his presence felt when he came with a stinging run at the 200m, but had to settle for third place, another half-length away.
Arc Triumph's winning time was a fast 57.99sec, only 0.29 second outside the record held by Nova Swiss.
Winning trainer James Peters said that Arc Triumph's Sunday victory bore an uncanny resemblance to his last win in February, even if it was back in grade.
"The last time he won with JP (John Powell), he had also drawn an outside gate and was caught wide throughout, except it was a Class 4 race," said the English handler.
"He was wide again this time out and when he got a clear run, he hit the line very strongly."
"Well done to Nizar, who rode him to instructions. It's also great for this group of owners. I think that's the first horse they sent me, and that's his sixth win."
Arc Triumph has now earned prize money of around $250,000 for the Arc Marine Stable.
Nizar, who had his indenture transferred from Saimee Jumaat to Peters in March, was bringing up his second winner for his new boss, the first one being Mr Hooper at the resumption of racing on July 11.
It was overall his sixth win for 2020, edging him to third spot on the apprentice jockeys' chart.
But he is still some distance off the duelling pair of Simon Kok Wei Hoong (17 wins) and Hakim Kamaruddin (14 wins).
As for Peters, he later saddled Meryl to win the $50,000 Mexican Rose 2010 Stakes Class 4 race over 1,600m. Meryl rewarded her backers with a nice $24 payout.
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