17th May was a night to remember as i was invited to attend the inaugural Singapore Airlines International Cup by The Singapore Turf Club=)

Our President, His Excellency Mr S R Nathan and Mrs Nathan were the Guests-of-Honour and this race was the finale of the 2009 Singapore International Racing Festival( SIRF) and with a prize money of a cool 3million dollars, it was a star-studded event with a v strong cast of foreign horses in the field!

This was just my second time at the Singapore Turf Club ( STC) at Kranji( 1st time was for a charity event a few years back), i must say the premises and outlook still look vv new, nothing betraying its age of almost a decade;)

I arrived at STC slightly earlier around 6pm and had a good look around the premises. Lo and behold i caught sight of these beautiful handpainted life-sized fibreglass horses based on various fashion themes like Gypsy and Lolita.  My favourites were Bohemia and Heavy Metal!(below)

      

The Festival commenced on 26th April with the launch of ” Fashionista Horseshoes” which featured ten of these fibreglass horses adorned with colourful accessories from flowers to even heavy metal chains, i must say they look really beautiful! I think its a v special and classy way to greet visitors arriving for this great night of horse racing=)

 

Vincent ( mr frenly, who brought me n my manager around for the night) took us to a dining room first, whereby there were over thirty tables for guests from all over the world, including the horse owners, trainers and their respective supporters.

I quickly sat down and read a booklet passed to me by Vincent. It was the offical programme booklet and i was very impressed by how detailed the booklet was in explaining the whole programme, the history of the various cups and there were even v nice coloured pictures of all the important horses n jockeys taking part in the race that night.

I do look v serious hor? haha…its because im a total novice at this and i did some homework prior to coming so i came to learn how much local interest there were for tonight’s other million dollar race which was the KrisFlyer International Sprint. Dun be confused, this was a shorter course( 1200m) compared to the SIA Cup(2000m) with a slightly smaller prize money( a whooping 1million nonetheless); it was Race 8 of the night, SIA Cup being Race 9, and vv much anticipated cos Singapore’s Rocket Man was the favourite going into the race being unbeaten in seven races.

   

Go Singapore Go!!!!

Vincent told us that Race 8( KrisFlyer International Sprint) was starting soon and we quickly proceeded to a vv comfy viewing gallery with a wonderful view of the whole racing ground to witness this exciting marquee sprint event.

 

Moving in for a better view, I chanced upon the owners of  British raider Presvis, Mr Philip Booth and Mr Kevin Bailey (below). According to the homework i did( haha), Presvis was the race favourite for the SIA Cup and the horse to beat having not finished outside the top 2 in his four races this year and had an amazing last to first victory in Hongkong last month.

I asked them about Presvis’s chances today and they were real amiable, sharing that they felt that having a poor starting position ( having drawn the outermost barrier no12) might affect their chances but nonetheless they were confident of their horse.

I asked if i should place my money on their horse then(haha), they said jokingly ,” Dont waste yr money!”

 

On the right of the photo is Mr Harrison, a representative for another dark horse of the night, South African speedster, Bankable.

 

 

Look at the media’s selection! Everyones’s( well almost) putting their bets on Rocket Man!

 

 

The beautiful race course@ Kranji-

 

 

Look at the massive turnout!

 

 

Before i knew it, Race 8 had started! I quickly took a shot of the big screen with all the horses coming out of their respective barriers from the start!

  

The atmosphere was electrifying in the gallery room, from a subdued but tensed environment to everyone starting to shout, getting up from their seats cheering their fav horse on!!

 

I was like….woah!…..haha.. i was pretty excited cos i love watching sporting events and the adrenaline rush left my heart pounding….

 

 

In the end,  the HK stallion Sacred Kingdom came on vv strongly from the outside and pipped Rocket Man for the win at the v last second by a neck.

The disappointment in the room was vv evident..woah..imagine the reaction in the crowds outside..i was pretty disappointed but nvm! there is always a next race to look forward to, Rocket Man!

1)

 

The horses returning after the race.

 

 

Congrats to the winning stallion and Mr Sin must be overjoyed=p

 

 

Whilst waiting for the next all impt race to start, i took a quick look ard the room and a lady immediately caught my attention; she was really stunning with a beautiful hat to boot=)

most of the time when i hear abt horseracing events, beautiful hats come into my mind; u must be wondering y im not decked in one; well, i heard from the person in charge that the weather in sg wasnt really suitable for the attire thats why it was not a requirement for women to be decked in fanciful hats that night.

i couldnt resist but to ask for a foto with her=) haha..she was really frenly n i came to know that her father-in-law actually owns the Australian stallion Pompeii Ruler, another in-form horse who clinched victory at the Emirates Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney last month.

 

Stunning, stunning;)

 

These two pretty Melbourne ladies below were well decked with simple elegant headwear and fascinators too=)

 

 

 

Around the dining room, guests were treated to an tantalizing spread of food including local cuisine whilst many tv screens provide immediate coverage of the racing event. I caught sight of our pretty SQ girls too!

   

 

Jay-Peg was the South African champion of last year’s race and tonight’s race would be the swan song for the horse as he would stand stud at the Klawervlei Farm in South Africa from July.

 

 

Well, I decided to make a small bet of my own.Hehe.. I made a place bet on either Bankable, Pompeii Ruler or Balius to finish in the top three.

First time!

  

 

Wish me luck!

 

Beautiful SIA girls=)

  

 

This is the Parade Ring- whereby trainers, owners, jockeys showcase the horses before the actual race!

 

 

I had the chance to meet up with the President & Chief Executive of Singapore Turf Club, Mr Yu Pang Fey=)

  

 

 

Look at my happy smile=) An eye opener for me

   

 

The coveted SIA Cup trophy!

 

 

Doing some interviews covering the event=)

  

 

And…the race started!

 

 

Everyone staring intently at the screen…

 

Cheering valiantly for their favourite horses!!

 

The crowd went ballistic! Because……the hot favourite didnt win!! Instead, French sensation Gloria De Campeao pulled off an upset victory with Presvis n Bankable coming in second n third respectively…

  2)

 

Several dejected faces( jockeys need to weigh themselves straight after the race and  their weight must not change too much b4 n after the race-i suppose this is ensure fairness in the competition)

  

 

Much attention given to the surprise winner n jockey Tiago Josue Pereira=)

 

Having a quick snapshot with the winner;)

 

 

During the race, there was a man standing beside me who was vv caught up with the whole event; He looked extremely dejected when the horses crossed the finish line, so much so i didnt have the heart to take his picture. Later upon introductions did i realise he was Mr Herman Brown, trainer of Jay Peg, last year’s winning horse. Jay Peg started off pretty brilliantly but faltered at the end to finish last.

He explained that the horse had been sweating profusely before the race and having electrolyte imbalance which might have affected his race. He was sad to part with Jay Peg considering this was his swan song but added Jay Peg had been a wonderful horse, having chalked up many wins with overseas earnings of almost 7million dollars. U know what, i could feel his love n passion for the horse, and this humane feeling felt right and i was pretty touched to witness this expression of love from this passionate horse trainer.

  

 

President SR Nathan presenting the trophy to owner Stefan Friborg’s racing manager Patrick Barbe. Also present are Stephen Lee, Chairman of Singapore Airlines( 2nd fr left) and Chairman of Tote Board Bobby Chin( far right) 

3)

 

We proceeded to the Champagne Room together with the winners and i met some beautiful ladies! They are the wives of the board of directors of the Singapore Turf Club=) Thank U Mrs Tan!

   

 

This spunky lady below is Sherie from HK, who is the world’s first Chinese female jockey!  She had a good 5 years of being a female jockey from 1993-1998. No wonder i noticed a special kind of aura around her=)

 

A very amiable Mr Harrison thanking me for supporting Bankable..hehe….he is a v funny guy.

  

Of course, off to collect my earnings for the day! a deficit of 1dollar=p but this was just a frenly bet, dun take it too seriously k?=)

 

It had been a great eye-opener for me, met many interesting personalities, saw some action but most of all, i witnessed one of the most prestigious event in the World Series Racing Championship right here @ Kranji! It had been an exciting night for me=) Thank U Singapore Turf Club for yr kindest invitation and not to forget, Vincent! U have been a great help and thanks for showing us around too=)

Besides this exciting finale of the Singapore International Racing Festival, a gala dinner was held on the 15th of May and our artistes Pierre Png and Joanne Peh were invited too=) To find out more abt this special gala dinner, check out Joanne’s blog @ http://joannepeh.com   =)

PS) Pictures earmarked 1, 2 and 3 taken from the website www.turfclub.com.sg

Filed under: myeverydaylife=), travels!+++ by feliciasrainbow