Wonderful day for Ipoh boy Kok
Michael Lee
David Kok has led in quite a few Class 5 winners in his 16-year-long training career, but it is doubtful any will be as meaningful as Wonderful Boss on Feb 8.
While such lowly seeded winners may be remembered for about the same time it takes to down a celebratory beer, Kok wished he could bottle that moment.
It was his first win in his hometown of Ipoh and, for good measure, on his very first visit.
Clearly, it will also be the first Class 5 winner to join Kok's ceiling-high wall of winning frames at his Sungai Besi stable office.
Naturally, a cellar dweller cannot outshine his two highest acclaims – his Singapore Derby win with Well Done in 2016 and Smart Star's famous victory in the last Singapore Gold Cup run on Oct 5.
But to Kok, a major item on his bucket list has been ticked off.
"This is one of the things I wanted to achieve as a trainer – win in my hometown," said Kok, who is now a naturalised Singaporean.
"I didn't have the chance when I was in Singapore, but I've been thinking about it after I moved to Kuala Lumpur (following the closure of Singapore racing on Oct 5).
"The right time to send my first horse to Ipoh was around Chinese New Year. The programme had two races that suited Wonderful Boss (Class 5A over 1,400m) and Boss Phan (Class CM B over 1,200m).
"To be honest, I thought both horses had good chances. I'm so happy one of them won, even if it could have been two-from-two."
Kok rued the fact that Boss Phan could not catch Vincent's Star.
"There was a front-runner bias. My horse ran on, but just missed out," he said. "It's okay, Wonderful Boss made my dream come true."
The Super One five-year-old was at his third Malaysian outing, with a first-up second as his best result. He was a previous two-time winner over the mile for Kok at Kranji.
Kok's fairy tale start actually looked like it would not happen when the fast-finishing JB Kaingeh (Tham Kim Chong) collared and even headed Wonderful Boss (Harmeet Singh Gill) at the 300m.
But his courage saw him claw his way back to hand his trainer the memorable milestone.
"I wasn't too worried when the other horse went past because I know he can fight back," said Kok.
One horse who was left out of the CNY festivities was Smart Star.
However, Kok was not disappointed by his seventh place in the CNY Prosperity Trophy (1,600m) won by Pacific Padrino on Jan 31.
"Mile's too short, he jumped slow and was looking around," he said.
"He ran on well late. He's pulled up good and I may run him in a Metro A race (1,600m) in KL in the first week of March."
manyan@sph.com.sg
