Trainer Daniel Meagher landed his first Group 1 win in his own right when Lim’s Lightening took out the Lion City Cup at Kranji in Singapore last Saturday.
Meagher, who was associated with seven Group 1 wins at Kranji when assistant to his Melbourne Cup winning father John Meagher during the families eleven year stint in Singapore, has done wonders with Lim’s Lightening who, as recently as February, had been labelled as being ‘unrideable.’
This was going to be his moment.
Going into the race, Meagher considered Lim’s Lightening to be his first real shot at Group 1 glory since he returned to train in Singapore in 2016 after spending time involved in a training partnership with his father and brother Chris in Australia … but it took a lot of hard work to get Lim’s Lightening into a real Group 1 contender’s position.
When Lim’s Lightening returned from an overseas stint, Meagher found he had to virtually start from scratch, reschooling the five-year-old while readying him for a return to action.
Lim’s Lightening had ‘old’ form on the scoreboard, having a third placed finish in the Group 1 Singapore Guineas in May 2019 and a Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe victory in 2018 to his credit, but an eleven-month break from local action and very little to enthuse about in-between, meant that expectations for his comeback run were kept very much in check.
As things turned out however, Lim’s lightening came away a winner on his return, taking out a Class 2 race over 1200m on March 20 in which he showed both agreeable ability and concentrated commitment in a pressurised finish to claim the fifth win of his career.
That win opened Meagher’s options with Lim’s Lightening and the Group 1 Lion City Cup came onto the radar … and the decision was made to take on that challenge.
In the Lion City Cup, Meagher had the horse primed to perfection and Danny Beasley made it a true team effort when he literally gave Lim’s Lightening a inch-perfect ride, sweeping late and strong down the centre of the track to get up in the last couple of strides.
Meagher currently sits in fourth spot on the Singapore Trainers’ Premiership ladder while Beasley holds down fifth place in the Jockey’s Premiership.
