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Three-year-old WHY BE, the youngest runner in
the line-up, put his older rivals to shame in the MRA Cup sponsored by
Starhub over 1200m at Kranji here today.
WHY BE beat WORLD AIRLINES and LIM’S PASSION
in a 1-2-3 finish for Singapore. The best effort by the five Malaysian
runners came from FLYING WONG CHOY who finished fourth, ahead of another
Malaysian entry BOSENDORFER.
Malaysian entry MAHAU set the pace but bolded
badly in the home stretch. SHARKS' FIN took the lead 300m out but he too
failed to run on.
In winning, WHY BE (3 b.a.g Success Express
- Charybdis by Royal Academy) made it five consecutive wins and seven
victories in total from just nine starts. He finished second in his two
other outings.
It was the icing on the cake for owners
Perfectum Stable and trainer Laurie Laxon. Perfectum Stable’s BIG EASY, also
trained by Laxon, was on Friday night voted Horse of the Year in Singapore
for 2005.
WHY BE, originally offered for sale as a
weanling in Australia, was picked up for just NZ$26,000 at the 2004 New
Zealand Select Yearling Sale. He immediately made an impact in Singapore,
winning his first two starts including the Singapore Guineas.
It was a memorable weekend for Laxon, who
on Friday night also picked the MRA Award for winning his second consecutive
championship in Singapore in 2005.
This afternoon, Laxon also captured the
S$100,000 JRA Trophy, a reciprocal race with the Japan Racing Association,
which this year was hosted by Singapore.
Laxon’s CONNERY (5 b.nz.g Al Alkar - Truly
Lucky by Truly Vain), who failed to score last year after winning six races
in 2004, bounced back to form to win the 1400m event.
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