KNIPPENBERG delivers a classy win at Kranji Racecourse 9th December, his 4th career win in Singapore
KNIPPENBERG, the four year old gelding by I Am Invincible out of Red Fez, capped off a great days racing for the New Zealand based Fortuna Racing Team when defeating a strong field in the Class 3 1200m Turf event at Singapore’s Kranji racecourse Saturday 9th December. Fortuna Racing had four runners on the day, with KNIPPENBERG being the last of them to make an appearance. Earlier in the day, PRINCE LONHRO had run a close up 2nd after enduring a three wide trip without cover in race 2, the 3yo GUN had produced a strong debut winning effort at his 3rd Singapore start in Race 4 and the durable ROCKY, already a three time winner in Singapore, had run a creditable 5th in Race 6th.
Race 10 saw KNIPPENBERG face the starter and with a last minute rider change, as Fadzli Yusoff who had been engaged had been dislodged from PRINCE LONHRO after passing the winning post Race 2 – relatively unscathed, he had nevertheless, been stood down from the rest of his riding engagements. Fortuitously, the up and comin g TH Koh, was available to take the ride on KNIPPENBERG
Click HERE to see the race replay
Fortuna Director John Galvin, watching from his home in New Zealand and already having enjoyed winning success ealier in the evening with the smart 3yo GUN, felt that his cup was truly “runneth over” “Boy, that was a great watch – KNIPPENBERG deserved that after being very unlucky in his recent runs – it was a quality field, but his record at this trip on the Long Course is exceptional – he went out at decent odds of 10 -1 but I always thought he just needed luck to be competitive and so it proved. Well done to TH Koh, who came off the bench to ride the horse and congrats to Donna Logan and her team for delivering a double victory on the day for us. It was great to see our Singapore and Malaysian based owners, Fiona Goh, TH and Gina Ng and Iain and Shawn Leishman, on course to celebrate this fine victory”
Knippenberg – Making it 4 wins in Singapore – Kranji 9th December 2023
Knippenberg’s Trainer, Donna Logan of Te Akau Racing Stables, who had enjoyed double success on the day, was overjoyed “Gee, this horse deserved that – he has had rotten luck his last two starts, but is all class and bounced back in fine style today. Lovely ride by TH Koh and huge congrats to John Galvin and his Fortuna Racing team – they have been supporting racing in Singapore since 2010 and deserve every success they can get.”
A content TH KOH returns to scale after riding Knippenberg to his 4th Singapore win
KNIPPENBERG had originally raced in Australia for his breeders Phoenix Thoroughbreds and been trained for them by the Ciaren Maher/David Eustace team. Showing just moderate form from two race day starts, his owners decided to offer him for sale at the Inglis Digital Sale (June 2022) – he was acquired by John Galvin for A$32,500 and sent to Singapore to race. John was assisted in his selection process by Mark Walker, the former Singapore based Trainer for Te Akau Racing and now leading Trainer for them in NZ
Knippenberg is owned by the Fortuna Knippenberg Syndicate, an Ownership Group of 46 individuals from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia – he has now won four times and had five minor placings from 12 race day starts and has accumulated over S$188k in stakes monies
Winning connections with Knippenberg and rider TH Koh after the race