Super Dynasty caps great day for Maia
The grey lands the Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes for the Brazilian's five-timer
Trackwatchers did a double take when Super Dynasty galloped earnestly in a blistering 33.9sec for 600m with stablemate Karisto on Tuesday morning.
That was a superb final hit-out by trainer Lee Freedman's pair for Saturday's $150,000 Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes over the Polytrack 1,600m.
Under the superb riding of the red-hot Ruan Maia, the grey Super Dynasty took his trackform to the races by taking the final feature of the Singapore racing season with a surprisingly easy all-the-way success.
He beat the Ricardo Le Grange-trained and apprentice jockey Krisna Thangamani-ridden Senor Don by 1½ lengths.
In the process, he equalled the 1min 37.64sec course record set by Tiger Force, as a Class 5 galloper, in September last year.
The Michael Clements-trained $20 favourite Sincerely, who had outgoing South African jockey Ryan Munger astride, finished third, a head away.
Karisto, ridden by lesser light Joseph See and the less fancied of the Freedman duo at $39 for a win, finished sixth in the capacity of 12.
Super Dynasty, the fourth favourite at $30, was the icing on the cake for Maia's five-timer from nine rides.
Earlier, the Brazilian had scored on Sky Eye, So High Class, Mr Showman and Water Rocket for four other trainers - Jerome Tan, Clements, Shane Baertschiger and Le Grange respectively.
His winning quintet took his season's tally to 61 winners, narrowing Vlad Duric's eight-winner lead for the premiership to just four with one race day remaining.
Duric, who is bidding for his fourth successive title, scored on the first of his six rides on Saturday - the Jason Ong-trained Special Ops.
Mathematically, the Australian appears to have the edge with just about 10 races left in Sunday's finale. But you never know. Should the two top riders end in a tie, Duric will win on countback for second placings.
Although the odds are stacked against him, Maia is hoping for luck with that final roll of the dice.
"It's fantastic. I'm still four behind, but it looks better now," said the two-time Macau champion. "I have to have a day like this to have a chance. We'll see what happens in the last."
Owned by Number One Stable, Super Dynasty also tried to lead throughout in last year's Colonial Chief Stakes with visiting Australian jockey Beau Mertens aboard.
But he faded to finish fourth behind the Le Grange-trained Pennywise, who ran eighth with Duric atop on Saturday.
It was not Maia's intention to lead, but he was left in front as no-one wanted to play rabbit.
"My horse jumped good and I was going to sit second or third. But, when I saw Munger hold his horse back, I decided to let my horse go forward," said Maia.
"I know he's a one-paced horse, so I just let him dictate a strong pace and hope he can keep it up to the finish.
"I had full control of the race and, at the 400m, I gave him another reminder and he ran to the line really well."
Praising Maia, Freedman said: "He won the race for us. He rated this race beautifully. It was his idea to let the horse roll and roll, and make it a staying test. It was a brilliant ride."
The Maia-Freedman combination won the Group 2 Chairman's Trophy over 1,600m with Circuit Land in 2018.
This year, Maia also landed a Group 1 double with the Baertschiger-trained Aramaayo in the $1 million Kranji Mile and $400,000 Raffles Cup.
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