Parranda to Face Eight from the Nine in the CEFC Singapore Cup

Parranda (English Channel), last-out winner of the GIII Marshua’s River S. in her first start for trainer Christophe Clement, drew the outside post in a field of nine for Sunday’s inaugural S$3.05-million CEFC Singapore Cup at Kranji Racecourse, the richest race ever to be run in the country. 

The 6-year-old, an $800,000 purchase by the China Horse Club out of last year’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale, and her stable companion My Option (Belong to Me) arrived in Singapore last Wednesday and took the travel well despite a ground delay in Miami. The latter, a $290,000 acquisition from the Keeneland November sale, has yet to make an afternoon appearance for Clement, but has reportedly trained well at Payson Park. A dual Grade III winner on synthetic track and a two-time black-type winner on conventional dirt, the Illinois-bred returns to the turf for the first time since running third to I’m Already Sexy (Ready’s Image) in the 2013 GIII Pucker Up S. 

Boom sire Le Havre (Ire) accounts for a third of the CEFC Singapore Cup runners, including the solid stayers Auvray (Fr) and Orbec (Fr) for Australian-based conditioner John Thompson, while the Michael Freedman-trained 2013 Singapore Gold Cup hero Tropaios (GB) (Excellent Art {GB}) is the lone horse representing the locals at the weekend.
   
“The quality of racehorses, jockeys and trainers involved in the inaugural international China Equine Cultural Festival is there and we are delighted by that,” said Eden Harrington, General Manager of the China Horse Club. “It is a good mix of talent and this weekend it will be very interesting to see how this Cup pans out. The CECF Singapore is the first international China Equine Festival we have hosted and the field for the feature event made up by star racehorses owned by members. Our members are excited, that is what this is all about. We are striving to create interest and participation in thoroughbred racing from the people of Mainland China so this event has a real purpose to it.”