Ismadi finishes 1-2 in Enrich A
Patience takes Vincent’s Star back to winner’s box, but trainer still not 100 per cent happy
Ipoh trainer Ismadi Ismail would have to be hard to please if Vincent’s Star’s return to winning ways did not bring back the smiles.
The RM42,000 (S$12,800) Enrich Stakes A (1,200m) win on Jan 11 finally ended a frustrating run of outs since his four-length win in a Class 4A (1,100m) second-up in May, both at his home track.
On top of that, Ismadi also saddled a quinella given the runner-up, Leong Ma Biscuit, was also his.
The 1-2 was actually a foregone conclusion from a long way out.
Straight to the lead from the start, Leong Ma Biscuit (How Yang) paired up with his stablemate to control the race up front.
The Ismadi duo straightened up in that order, giving no signs of letting up. Among the other four rivals, the only one who could spoil the party, Storm Eighty-Three (Aify Yudanyl), was running on three wide, but it was soon obvious he was safely held.
Ismadi knew from the 400m he could not lose, but not quite the identity of his first 2025 winner.
“My horse could only beat my own horse,” he quipped.
In the end, it was the younger upstart, Vincent’s Star who got the upper hand under Rueven Ravindra, while Leong Ma Biscuit, a Belardo five-year-old who was bidding for a third win in a row, went down fighting, conceding only a ½-length to his stablemate.
Ismadi, who had no more runners – Village Tycoon and Golden Biscuit were unplaced earlier – after that Race 7, could party early.
However, the former jockey surprisingly revealed that the win still left a bittersweet taste.
“I’m not entirely satisfied,” he said. “I was expecting a stronger run from the winner.
“Yes, he won, he beat Leong Ma Biscuit, who put up a good fight. But it’s the way he was travelling, I think he can do better.
“The field was not very strong. I was only worried about Storm Eighty-Three, Ahtims Klis and maybe Burgundy Bubbles, but the last two didn’t show up.”
It sounds harsh, but it was that quest for answers that drove him to unlock Vincent’s Star’s potential.
He said he held high hopes for Vincent’s Star following his maiden win, but the ambitious 3YO path he plotted soon hit the skids.
“After he won, I took him to the Selangor 3YO races, but he turned out to be a bad traveller,” he said.
“At his first trip, he lost 21kg. I found out it was an ulcer problem, I had to rest him for two months before I started to prepare him.
“He was in tip-top shape, but the Cosmo A race I targeted was dropped – not enough entries.
“His rating is above 60 (65). We appealed with the club for Class 3 races, and finally I got this race.”
Ismadi will take the win, and worry another day about the challenge of planning races for a horse whose weight keeps fluctuating.
“He’s very sensitive. Just this week, his body weight dropped from 530kg to 523kg,” said Ismadi.
“After today, I can’t work him too much. I may run him in a Class 3 at the next Ipoh meeting, but let’s see how he saddles up.”
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