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Trainer Shane Baertschiger was relieved to see Saint Tropez knock in his first win in the $70,000 Countofmontecristo 2017 Stakes, a Class 3 race at his fourth start in Singapore on Saturday.
Bought at the Inglis Digital Online Sale in May last year with the goal of running in the Group 1 Singapore Derby (1800m) on July 23, the MA Racing & Hi Vis Stable-owned four-year-old incidentally also proved his superiority over the nine furlongs for good measure.
Shouldering the light weight of 52.5kgs, Saint Tropez (Ronnie Stewart) broke well from gate four and bidded his time about three lengths behind his leader-cum-stablemate Preditor (Mohd Zaki) and Pennywise (Rozlan Nazam).
With a slackened pace of 25.71 secs in the first 400m, those at the back of the field including Hero (Manoel Nunes), Sun Fortress (Iskandar Rosman) and Saturno Spring (Marc Lerner) began to bunch up to the two frontrunners.
Stewart kept his composure on Saint Tropez ($17) in the small field of six at the turn before launching him on the outside for the final assault at the 400m. Pennywise hung out briefly under pressure at the 300m, but that only spurred Saint Tropez on.
The son of Not A Single Doubt was off and gone from then and held off the fast-finishing Saturno Spring by one-and-a-quarter lengths while another swooper, Hero closed in late another half-a-length away in third.
The winning time was 1 min 48.04secs for the 1800m on the Long Course.
The penny has dropped for Saint Tropez and while he took time to hit his straps, Baertschiger pointed out that a good barrier trial run and trackwork recently indicated that his first win was not far away.
"He trialled very well last Thursday (on March 30), ran third (behind Rocketship) and the winning time was 59(.94) seconds," said the Australian handler, who is now two shy of his 500th win milestone in Singapore since taking over his father and ex-Kranji trainer, Don's stable in 2012.
"He took a long time to get fit, had two runs over 1400m here and then he went straight to 1800m where he had a real good blow.
"That's why he trialled far and few between runs, but he trialled very well last week and worked very well with Ronnie on this week and Ronnie was very confident.
"The (Singapore) Derby is still on, but as for all three Legs (of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge series), we'll see how. I'll take a look at the programme and decide what's for him next."
Stewart, who was also on board Saint Tropez at his last-start fourth in a Class 4 race (1800m) on March 12, was reasonably impressed with his first win and would be keen to stay on for his main target.
"I watched his race and he ran well for me over the Derby trip last start, but he's just taken a bit of time," said the soft-spoken Australian hoop.
"He showed me a fair bit at the trial. I haven't had a lot to do with him, but when I had, it's very encouraging.
"It looked like it'd be one-one with the (three) scratchings (Fighter, Istataba and Vittoria Perfetta), and the race unfolded very nicely.
"They backed it off at about the half-mile (mark), but the horse was not affected and he went super.
"'Stretch' (Baertschiger's nickname) and his team has done a great job. They looked after these little horses well.
"The (Singapore) Derby's still some time away, but I think he'll be a nice ride for the Derby."
The first two Legs of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge series are the Group 3 Silver Bowl (1400m) and the Group 2 Stewards' Cup (1600m), held on June 11 and July 2 respectively.
A three-time winner (once over 1209m and twice over 1600m) from Australia, Saint Tropez also placed three times, where he once ran third to Jungle Magnate in the Group 3 Chairman's Stakes (2000m) on April 30 last year at Morphettville, South Australia, when trained by Lloyd Kennewell and ridden by Daniel Moor.
With his first win at Kranji, Saint Tropez has now earned close to $40,000 in prizemoney for his new connections.
