Noah Khan returned to racing after a spell to end the winning streak of Filial Dragon in the Supreme A race over 1200m at Sungai Besi on Sunday.
Noah Khan captured the Tunku Gold Cup (1200m) in style on Mar 16, then had three very good placings – third to Pacific Vampire (1200m), second to Faithful Leader in the Perak Turf Community Shield (1200m) and third to Super Salute in the Penang Turf Club Farewell Trophy (1300m) on May 31.
While Noah Khan was taking a break, Filial Dragon has been capturing the imegination of racegoers with four consecutive wins, culminating with his victory in the Perak Gold Vase (1100m) three weeks ago.
The set-weight race today had some big names in the line-up but it was Sacred Buddy who was the first to break. Pacific Vampire, however, quickly raced past him to lead on settling down with Filial Dragon and Noah Khan pulling their heads off just behind him.
Honesty raced wide from the start to move up third when the field passed the halfway mark. Noah Khan settled nicely next on the rails, followed by Faithful Leader, Dream Alliance and Sacred Buddy.
Pacific Vampire led into the straight from Filial Dragon. Noah Khan was looking for a run between them and Faithful Leader was in touching distance.
Pacific Vampire kicked clear at the top of the straight with Filial Dragon breathing down his neck at the 400m. Yudanyl Aify, the rider of Noah Khan, elected to ease his mount out behind the heels of Filial Dragon to the outside for his run. That proved to be a decisive move.
Filial Dragon ranged alongside Pacific Vampire at the 250m and beat off the pacemaker 100m out. But Noah Khan was now getting into top gear and swept past Filial Dragon close to home to win by 3/4 length.
Honesty, despite racing wide all the way early, finished well to take third placing.
Aify, who has ridden Noah Khan twice before for a win (on Feb 23) and a second (last year), said: "Today the horse looked really well. Even the wide draw (barrier 12) did not pose a problem to him. A very talented horse indeed."
"The horse (Noah Khan) has been racing well without winning (since the Tunku Gold Cup. Today he showed up to win," said trainer Siva Kumar.
Noah Khan, placed once in seven starts in New Zealand, had now picked up seven wins in 21 starts in the country.
