Lucky Jinsha is all class

You have got to hand it to Lucky Jinsha. The 2022 Champion Polytrack horse in Singapore certainly enjoys his romps under the morning sun.

So the question: What are we going to get from the five-year-old when Tim Fitzsimmons next sends him to the races?

It is a fair question, as Lucky Jinsha has been blowing hot and cold after his recent trials.

Take that race on Dec 29.

He won it hands down in 58.78sec but managed to beat only one home in his next race on Jan 7.

That was a Kranji Stakes A sprint over the Poly 1,100m on his favoured surface.

Fitzsimmons said afterwards that Lucky Jinsha was not suited by the pressure he received during the race.

Manoel Nunes, his jockey on the day, backed him up. He said he felt his mount did not like having to race tight.

Despite both being legitimate observations – and horses are known to have off days – it was a tad disappointing because Lucky Jinsha usually shows his best side after winning a trial.

Like on Sept 17, he beat a Class 1 field over the Poly 1,100m just nine days after winning a trial in 58.91.

Same, too, on Oct 27. He won that trial and followed it up with a brilliant success on Nov 5.

Well, Lucky Jinsha was in his element on Thursday morning, winning his trial with loads of authority. This time, he had little pressure to contend with and was never asked to race tight.

Fitzsimmons would have been mighty pleased. So, too, Nunes, who rode him a treat.

Sent off in the second of four trials, Lucky Jinsha took control of things at the 600m and, when he straightened, there was nothing bothering him.

From then on, the son of Shooting To Win really lived up to his sire’s name.

He shot clear over the final 300m and never gave his rivals a look-in, winning by 5¼ lengths.

He clocked 1min 00.15sec for the Poly 1,000m.

It was not a fast time by his lofty standards but it did the job and that was what mattered.

Lucky Jinsha has not raced since Jan 7. But, from what we saw, last season’s champion trainer has kept his charge simmering.

It could pay to be in his corner at his next outing.

Nunes, as always, had a good day at the trials.

Aside from that armchair ride on Lucky Jinsha, Kranji’s champion jockey made it a double when winning on Major King in the next.

It was three from four when he steered Conflagrance to take the last of the morning.

Major King, from Jason Ong’s yard, was an all-the-way winner and, like Lucky Jinsha, Nunes did not demand anything extra from his mount.

Having cleared the chute cleanly, the Brazilian hoop settled him in the lead.

Country Boss (Shafrizal Saleh) and Liebestraum (Marc Lerner) tried to get to his withers but Major King was having nothing of it.

He cleared the 600m marker with a comfortable cushion of two lengths and held his rivals at bay, cruising in by almost five lengths.

Major King clocked a pedestrian time of 1:02.07 for the trip.

But, as far as Ong and Nunes were concerned, it was a “job well done” and that was all that mattered.

Major King has yet to show up in a race in the 2023 season but he is working towards it.

That hit-out on Thursday was his third trial for the year. He took third in the first one on Feb 21 and was second on March 23.

Having won a race on debut in August, we know he races well fresh. Watch him when Ong sends him out for his first race in 2023.

As for Conflagrance, horse and rider had to work hard for the victory.

Another one who does not seem to know that he is a veteran at eight years old, he still has plenty of running left in those legs and they carried him to victory in that closing trial of the morning.

Settled into third spot after a clean getaway, Conflagrance was still third when they straightened.

But he was close enough and, when the leader Fiddlestick (Mohd Zaki) gave up the fight and waved the white flag at the 250m, the David Kok-trained Conflagrance came with a big run to take the trial by 1½ lengths.

Trainer Daniel Meagher’s two-year-old Lim’s Teton bears watching. He was doing good work in the concluding stages to take third spot under Lerner.