Meagher handles exaggerated hopes
John Meagher is used to big assignments. He's won 87 stakes races, including a Melbourne Cup, but on Sunday carries a massive weight of expectation as the trainer of Singapore's leading hope in its annual showcase race.
Meagher, 55, came to Singapore in 1999 as one of the headliners in the Singapore Turf Club's push to create a stand-alone, world-class racing centre along similar lines to Hong Kong. He immediately made his mark in his new home, winning the republic's richest domestic race, the Singapore Gold Cup, with Kim Angel (Mick Dittman) in 2000.
But on Sunday, the task is significantly more difficult. His charge Exaggerate is clearly the best of the seven Singapore horses in the S$3 million (HK$13.6 million) SIA Cup but there are nine international contenders standing in between the Zabeel gelding and the silverware. 'This is the race he's been set for from the minute he came back into work,' Meagher said yesterday. 'Sure, there's some pressure. One of the committee men said to me the other day, 'the whole of Singapore is depending on you now'. Those things have a way of building up pressure on a trainer.'
If Meagher had been a few years younger, he may well have been invited to Hong Kong at some stage over the past five years. His Hong Kong clients include Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli, steward Brian Stevenson and property magnate Robert Ng Chee-siong, whose entity Lucky Stable races Exaggerate.
The five-year-old has raced twice over the Singapore 2,000 metres course. The first time, he was the best of good things beaten when second to Lead To Victory in last year's Singapore Derby (Group One), being strung up behind beaten runners and losing several lengths at a vital stage. At his only other run over the circuit, he romped away with the Group Two Queen Elizabeth II Cup last September. The critical factor for Exaggerate was Wednesday's barrier draw. The Zabeel gelding drew perfectly in barrier one, while a number of his opposition - including Hong Kong's Bowman's Crossing (13) - drew lamentably.
'If he gets a genuine speed in this race, I think he'll settle in a lovely position,' Meagher said. 'I think he'll be settling fifth or sixth, and travelling nicely. I've decided to put the blinkers back on him for this race, but I don't think they'll make him pull. I'm happy enough with my horse, and I'm sure Jason Patton will give him a great ride. It's just a matter of whether he's good enough.' Meagher holds a number of significant training credits in Australia. Apart from winning the race that stops two nations, the Melbourne Cup (What A Nuisance, 1985), he is one of only three trainers in history to have won a clean sweep of the four eastern-state Cup races - the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide Cups. He has won 15 Group One races and prides himself on meticulous execution of big-race strategies.
Meagher began training as a 24-year-old, having been mentored by some of Melbourne's most famous old hands - Des and George McCormick, Bill Murrell and Bob Clarton. 'Great, great old horsemen,' he said with emphasis.
'Sure, this is a big occasion, and I love the atmosphere that goes with these big races,' he said. 'I'm comfortable that my horses are fit, well and sound. And since they've both drawn good barriers, they'll get their chance.'
