SINGAPORE: Niceone Returns With A Nice Victory

Monday, 2 July 2012: The Leslie Khoo trained Niceone got the job done on his return from a six month lay-off in the class three on the polytrack over 1100m.

Niceone Photo by Singapore Turf Club

Jumping from an inside barrier, KB Soo immediately got the three year-old into his stride and went along easily for the first 200m till he was joined by Vellfire  who stuck to him like glue till they turned for home.

As the duo turned for home, Niceone  began to shake-off Vellfire and opened up a gap of a couple of lengths between himself and the field.

With the effort of having to deal with a horse tackling him for the lead early and, considering that he must have been slightly race rusty, the concern was whether any of the closers would catch him as he began to tie-up.

Benji's Empire  was the best of the closers but found that the winning post had come in time for the favourite, Niceone.

It's always special to win with a good horse on return and Leslie Khoo explained the challenges of doing so in this case.

“He had a chip in his knee and required a surgery,” began Khoo.

“I know he relaxes well and that helped him through recovery."

“It helped when he was joined by the other horse early as he was able to stay relaxed and didn't get too keen as well."

“I'll let him take it step-by-step and just go through the grades with him,” said Khoo when asked if he had any specific plans for the winner.

KB Soo was ecstatic with the result. “I wasn't too worried with the fact that I had a horse on my outside as Niceone has plenty of speed.

“It was only in the last 100m that I started to get a bit concerned as he began to tire which isn't surprising considering he was running after a spell,” ended Soo.

Niceone is a son Ishiguru  and has won four times from six starts in Singapore. He's likely to improve from this start and is certainly an exciting prospect for his connections post the set-back.