SINGAPORE,  11 March 2006

BIG EASY and OPPOSING FORCE have been named Da Ma Cai Horse of the Year for Singapore and Malaysia respectively in 2005.

Perfectum Stable’s BIG EASY (4 b.nz.g Spinning World - Nicole’s Niner by Forty Niner) was very consistent last year, starting 13 times for four wins and was never finished further back than fifth.

All his victories were achieved in feature races: the Raffles Hotels & Resorts Cup (Singapore Group 1), 3YO Challenge (3rd Leg), Singapore Guineas and Three Rings Trophy.

Trained by Laurie Laxon, BIG EASY was voted ahead of Singapore Gold Cup winner TERFEL, NINETYFIVE EMPEROR and WORLD AIRLINES.

OPPOSING FORCE, whose career may have ended prematurely by injury, has not raced since winning the RM1.5m Piala Emas Sultan Selangor over 2000m in June last year. Prior to that, he achieved a historic hat-trick in the Perak Derby over 2400m.

In fact, Revenge Stable’s OPPOSING FORCE (9 ch.nz.g Jetball - Delia’s Choice by Sir Tristram) raced only five times last year and was also third in the MRA Cup at Ipoh and the Selangor Gold Cup, both over 1600m.

The Tiang Kim Choi gelding beat JERAM NEW VILLAGE, GOLDEN ACE and SUPERB CLASSIC in the voting.

SUMMER FIESTA (5 b.m.g Posen - Mysterious Smile by Covetous), who last year won four races including the RM250,000 Wira Malaysia Cup, the richest race for Malaysia breds, was voted the National Stud Farm Graduate of the Year.

The Horse of the Year awards were presented at the MRA 110th anniversary dinner in Singapore last night, during which the top achievers of 2005 also received their awards.

They were:

• Champion Owner — Perfectum Stable (Singapore), Gold Plus Stable (Malaysia)
• Champion Trainer — Laurie Laxon (Singapore), Lee Yoke Bill (Malaysia)
• Champion Jockey — KB Soo (Singapore), J Saimee (Malaysia)
• Champion Apprentice Jockey — Alan Ng (Singapore), Y Aify (Malaysia)