WIDE DRAW MARS GUTSY HORSE'S DREAM RUN

From operating table to Gold Cup, Big Union faces one last challenge

- Michael Lee

Beating colic to win five races and make the cut for the $1.38 million Grand Singapore Gold Cup (2,000m) on Oct 5 is already the stuff dreams are made of.

But, after rising star and first-time 2,000m tester Big Union drew the second-worst alley in 15 on Oct 2, a dejected trainer Jerome Tan said that to win from such an awkward gate would take even bigger intestinal fortitude.

“Barrier 15 makes it a lot tougher. Normally he’s an on-pace horse, but whether you’re on or off the pace, you’re pretty much a gone case from such a wide barrier,” said the Singaporean handler.

Tan had already been deflated when the weights came out two days earlier. The 50kg for Big Union was a given, going with the yawning 40-point gap between him and topweight Lim’s Kosciuszko.

On the handicapping terms adjusted to the special Gold Cup scale of four points to the kilo instead of two, he should receive 10kg from the toppie.

But when Lim’s Kosciuszko was given - some say gifted - 58kg, it spelt bad news for a horse like Big Union.

With the denoted minimum weight capped at 50kg at the other end of the scale, the Zoustar four-year-old was already 2kg worse off - he should have carried 48kg on merit.