Sportscaster, the 7yo Gelding by Fastnet Rock, put in a strong winning performance at Singapore‘s Kranji racecourse yesterday in the Class 5 1700m Polytrack event. collecting his 4^th win in Singapore.

A natural front running type, Sportscaster’s form had been indifferent of late, failing to finish off his races – with this in mind trainer Mark Walker came up with a pre-race plan to allow the horse to find his feet early in the run, rather than push him to the front as had been his race day pattern.  Leading Singapore rider K Hakim was in the saddle and he followed Mark’s pre-race instructions to the letter, just letting Sportscaster find his feet early in the run, however the horse had a mind of his own and, deciding he didn’t want to be racing slightly better than midfield, he pulled his way to the front by about the 800m point – leading into the straight he kept up a strong gallop, kicking away by about 3 lengths with 200m to go – although getting a little tired close to the line, he won the race by half a length.

Click HERE to see the race replay

Sportscaster – Winner – 18th April 2021

Trainer Mark Walker was a little bit bemused after the race “that was an excellent effort from this veteran horse, although I must admit I didn’t really pick it that he could win today – I was just trying to change of tactics to see if that could make a difference and boy. it certainly did.”

Fortuna Syndications director, John Galvin, watching the race from his home in New Zealand, was also a very happy man “yes, we had been scratching our heads a bit with this horse of late and when Mark came up with a change of race day tactics, I certainly bought into that, as it was a matter of trying something different and it really worked – the old fella gave us a great sight in the race and would have had many of his ownership group here in New Zealand and elsewhere out there seats cheering him home for sure. Lovely ride by Hakim who actually rode three winners on the day. Well done to our Singapore based syndicate Member, Derek Tan, who was on course to see the win and really enjoyed the victory Champagne post race.”

By Fastnet Rock out of Gypsy Dancer, Sportscaster is a half brother to Golden Slipper winner and multiple Group One winning Sprinter, Dance Hero,  however is very much a staying type of horse who loves racing over a trip – he was originally a $300,000 yearling, however Fortuna acquired him from his Singapore based owner in 2019.  Sportscaster has now won  over S$116,000 in Singapore. He is raced by the Fortuna Sportsman Syndicate, an ownership group of 24 individuals