Savabeel six-year-old Preditor (NZ) produced an electrifying finishing burst to come out on top in an all-Karaka finish to Sunday's S$200,000 Listed Jumbo Jet Trophy (1400m) at Kranji, registering his first black-type win.
Bought for $75,000 at the 2014 Premier Sale, Preditor sprouted wings in the straight to charge home from a seemingly impossible position and beat the Select Sale and Ready to Run Sale graduateDebt Collector(NZ) (Thorn Park) by a head. Debt Collector himself won the race in 2016.
"I didn't think he could win from where he was," trainer and owner Shane Baertschiger admitted. "He was a long way back and Debt Collector was in front of him. "But Matty (Matthew Poon, apprentice jockey) rode a very patient race and got him into the clear at the right time."
Preditor is now the winner of seven of his 24 starts and more than S$400,000 in prizemoney – more than five times his purchase price.
Earlier this year, Preditor was a close fourth in the S$500,000 Chairman's Trophy (1600m) and seventh in the S$1.5 million Kranji Mile (1600m).
"I watched Preditor's past races and saw how he came from behind in the Kranji Mile," Hong Kong-based Poon said. "He finished off nicely.
"I think if he had drawn better today, he would have won more easily. I had a good run on the outside of Debt Collector, and once I took him to the outside and he saw daylight, he just flew home."
Bred by Waikato Stud's Mark Chittick, Preditor is out of the stakes-winning Danasinga mareBird(NZ). She is also the dam of the multiple Group placegetterFlamingo(NZ) (Pins).
New Zealand-breds have won the Jumbo Jet Trophy in five of the last seven years, and four of them have been Karaka graduates – Preditor,Countofmontecristo(NZ) (Echoes of Heaven), Debt Collector andSuper Easy(NZ) (Darci Brahma).
This year's runner-up Debt Collector was a $30,000 purchase at the 2014 Select Sale and fetched $120,000 at the Ready to Run Sale later that year. He has won eight of his 19 starts and more than S$1.6 million.
| Vendor | Waikato Stud |
| Purchaser | NZB as agent (Hong Kong) |
| Breeding | Savabeel – Bird |
| Sale | Lot 386, 2014 Premier Sale, $75,000 |
| Bred by | M J Chittick |
