Heart Of Fire In Red-Hot Form

M'sian trainer Cheng's three-time winner working well ahead of his March 23 race

- Brian Miller

Any trainer or owner would love to have a horse with a good record of three wins and one second from 12 starts.

That is exactly what Heart Of Fire has delivered in the course of his stay at Winson Cheng Han Yong's yard.

The son of All Too Hard five-year-old's last win in a Class 3 race on Jan 4 was a gem.

Ridden by Andre da Silva over the short and sharp 1,020m, he took the lead at the 800m mark and jealously guarded it.

The others attempted to eat into his advantage. But the more they tried, the further he pulled away from them.

Pardon the pun, but it must have "broken their hearts".

Heart Of Fire eventually put 4 3/4 lengths between himself and the runner-up, Pacific Flash.

That was a commanding win, the type which usually comes from a horse with sheer grit.

Racegoers on both sides of the Causeway remembered that victory and they mobbed the windows and backed him down to $15 on the win at his last start.

That was a 1,200m race in Ipoh on Feb 22, but Heart Of Fire burned a hole in their pockets instead.

He ran last in that Enrich Stakes. A race taken out by Rocket Boy.

Subsequently, the post-race veterinary examination ordered by the racing stewards revealed that Heart Of Fire suffered an attack of heat stress, which probably explained his dismal run.