May 20, 2025

Last-start winners Behind Player and Rhett Butler look to be in good shape

Trainer Ananthen Kuppan and the Legacy Power Racing Stable have a good horse, Ocean Jupiter, in the yard, but the four-year-old did not have much luck in his last two runs.

They must be pulling at their hair after the Ocean Park chestnut’s recent runs because he looked fine on both occasions, but all the good work came undone when he did not get any favours in both races.

Two starts back, on April 5, he was blocked for a run at the 250m and had to shift out. He paid the price and settled for fourth – 2½ lengths behind the winner, Fire, in that Class 4B race (1,200m) race.

At his last start in the Class 4A event (1,500m) on May 3, he was forced to ease back at the 1,400m mark. Just when he was fashioning a run at the 200m mark, he found himself in a traffic jam.

The stewards’ report noted that from then on, he had “no clear running”. He laboured on and eventually finished third, 1½ lengths behind Engine Start.

In preparation for Ocean Jupiter’s next assignment – a Class 4B race (1,400m) on May 25, his Malaysian trainer sent him for a piece of serious work at Sungai Besi.

On the morning of May 20 – on a track rated yielding – Ocean Jupiter put in a good gallop, running the 600m in 38.1sec.

He is not one of the flashiest horses residing in the stables at Sungai Besi, but he has earned his keep.

Formerly trained by Tan Kah Soon at Kranji, Ocean Jupiter won twice, including a victory in the Colonel Cup, a Class 5 race (1,400m) at the final meeting in Singapore on Oct 5, 2024.

He also bagged three seconds and two thirds for Tan, and should have brought in enough stakes money to pay for both board and lodging, but he is hardly done, yet.

With 22 starts, including five runs in Kuala Lumpur, this handsome chestnut has had loads of racing, but he should still have a couple of wins left in him.

Also showing off on the training track was Elliot Ness. He worked up a storm, running the 600m in a fluent 37.8sec.

Another fine-looking chestnut, he is seven years old and more experienced, with 38 starts under his belt in Singapore and Malaysia.

Although the son of Written Tycoon has not yet won or placed in seven starts in Malaysia, he has enjoyed the rapturous applause normally reserved for winners at Kranji.

From 31 starts in Singapore, Elliot Ness has trotted into the winner’s enclosure six times, all over the 1,100m sprint.

Though his runs in Malaysia did little to inspire confidence, we know that he is better than that, given his records at Kranji.

Elliot Ness was one of the promising sprinters who was first prepared by New Zealander Mark Walker, before being transferred to compatriot Donna Logan. Other than his six wins, the model of consistency has also six seconds and two thirds to his name.

His current trainer Nick Selvan is putting in overtime trying to get Elliot Ness to replicate his Kranji days. That training gallop on May 20 would have been part of the plan to get him ready for the Class 4A contest (1,400m) on May 25.

Two last-start winners – Rhett Butler and Behind Player – were also impressive on the training track, clocking 39sec and 41sec over 600m respectively.

Another one from Selvan’s yard, Rhett Butler scored his last win at Ipoh on May 11. That day, under a ride by Winston Cheah Wei Wen, he powered home to beat Air Boss by ½ length.

That Class 5B race was run over the 1,400m trip. The Charm Spirit four-year-old goes over the 1,150m in a similar race on May 25.

The three-time winner seems to enjoy finishing off his races, so the sprint trip seems a tad short on paper, but if you roll back the pages to his Singapore debut on April 29, 2023, you will see that he won over 1,100m.

Behind Player is on the quick back-up, having won his last start on May 17.

That was in a Class 5B race (1,500m). The son of Derryn powered home to beat Crown Dancing by ¾ length under Shafiq Rizuan.

His Singaporean trainer Jason Ong, who has been winning races by the spades, landed his first four-timer in Malaysia on May 18 and is leading the trainers’ log on 37 wins, 13 more than the second-placed Selvan.

With Ong’s yard firing on all cylinders at the moment, Behind Player does look capable of running a huge race in the Class 5A event (1,600m) on May 25.

Source : Brian Miller