The demise of racing in Singapore has had a bright side for Roger James and Robert Wellwood, with Sweynesday emerging as an exciting young talent in their Cambridge stable. 

The lightly raced four-year-old collected the third win of his five-start career with another promising performance in Saturday’s Pathways – The Immigration Specialists (1200m) at Te Rapa. 

Sweynesday races in the colours of Eric Koh’s Falcon Racing, renowned as one of the leading owners in Singapore. The son of Sweynesse was bought for $80,000 by Koh, King Power and Bevan Smith Bloodstock from the 2022 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka. That group also paid $280,000 at the same sale to buy December, who James and Wellwood have trained to win three of his seven starts so far. 

“We’re fortunate to train Sweynesday for Falcon Racing,” Wellwood said on Saturday. “He and another horse we’ve got in our stable were both bought to go to Singapore, and we’ve been the fortunate beneficiaries of what’s happened to racing in Singapore. We’re very grateful that they’ve decided to leave those two horses in our stable. 

“They were both were bought at Karaka by a very good friend of mine, Bevan Smith, who has an excellent record of buying quality yearlings and two-year-olds that go on to perform on the racetrack. We’re thrilled that he bought this horse and that he’s ended up in our stable, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for him.” 

Sweynesday had two starts as a three-year-old last season, finishing second on debut at Taupo in March before leaving maiden ranks with a smart victory at Ellerslie in April. The gelding resumed in October with a first-up defeat of subsequent winner Wind Of Change at Ellerslie, then ran second behind the highly rated Twain on November 30. 

Sweynesday was sent out as a $2.60 favourite at Te Rapa on Saturday and produced a performance worthy of that billing. In-form jockey Masa Hashizume gave him a patient ride in midfield as Rayet led the field up to the point of the home turn. 

Master Brutus tackled and headed Rayet in the straight, but then Sweynesday loomed ominously on his outside. Hashizume asked his mount for maximum effort and Sweynesday stretched out powerfully in the last 50m, edging ahead of Master Brutus to win by a short neck. Rayet held on for third, five lengths adrift of the first pair. The 1200m were run in 1:09.93. 

Sweynesday’s five-start career has produced three wins, two seconds and $92,025 in stakes. 

“He’s a quality horse,” Wellwood said. “He doesn’t have too many chinks in his record, running first or second in every start so far, and it was another good performance today. He’ll learn more from that too, he was a little bit green, but Masa rode him patiently and timed his run perfectly. 

“We’ll see how the horse comes through today, but everything he’s shown us so far is giving us a bit of confidence to think about raising the bar a bit higher with him later in the campaign. But the horse has to come first, so we’ll wait a couple of days and make sure he’s come through this well before making any other plans.”