Ex-Singapore trainer Tim Fitzsimmons is set to discover more about his top performer, Golden Monkey, when the gelding makes his Australian racing debut at Echuca this Friday.
The seven-year-old resumes in the Country Discovery (1000m), marking his first appearance since relocating from Singapore, where he won eight races and placed in another 16 across 31 starts.
Fitzsimmons enjoyed a fruitful five-year run in Singapore before the closure of racing in October last year. Since then, he has brought back a team of 10 horses to Australia, including Golden Monkey.
With 194 winners to his name in Singapore, Fitzsimmons is slowly rebuilding his stable on home soil, having just one win from his first five starters in Australia.
“Monkey has been my best horse,” Fitzsimmons said.
“He was champion three-year-old, champion four-year-old and he won the Derby and if it wasn’t for Lim’s Kosciuszko, he would probably be the best horse up there.
“It was a bit like Hay List and Black Caviar. I think at the end he ran second to him in five Group 1’s, but he won five Group races himself, so he’s a handy horse, but he could just never get past him.”
Despite having success over longer distances like the 1800m Singapore Derby, Fitzsimmons believes Golden Monkey is best suited to distances between 1200m and 1400m.
While Friday’s 1000m assignment might be short of his ideal trip, Fitzsimmons is keen to see how the gelding finishes off.
“He needs a fast pace on, needs to be ridden quiet, so he does need luck,” Fitzsimmons said.
“If he can get a suck run through them and get out late, he’s got a really good last 350-metre sprint.
“We would have preferred 1100 or 1200, but it’s a nice starting point and then if he runs well in that then we’ll run him in the Wagga Town Plate over 1200 metres.
“We want to see where he’s at early. We’re not aiming for the skies as he’s an older horse now.
“There’s a race up on the Sunshine Coast, The Glasshouse, over 1400 metres, that might be alright for him later on.
“With his rating, he’s up with the big boys, but I was really happy with how he’s trialled.”
Fitzsimmons noted he has a good yardstick in The Inferno, a top sprinter from his time in Singapore, who transitioned well to Australian racing under Cliff Brown—Fitzsimmons’ former boss of 12 years.
“The Inferno did really well when he first came back. He nearly won a Group 1,” Fitzsimmons said.
“He was probably a little bit better than Golden Monkey, but we’ll learn a bit more on Friday.”