Dan Meagher laments that Melbourne racegoers won’t get to see Lim’s Kosciuszko (Kermadec) at his peak, but believes the former Singapore champion can make his presence felt in his Australian Group debut in Saturday’s Sir John Monash Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m).
Lim’s Kosciuszko became one of the most storied horses in Singapore racing history, scoring 22 wins in 28 starts in the city state from 1200 metres to 2000 metres, drawing two invitations to Hong Kong, and being crowned Horse of the Year in 2022 and 2023.
After the “sudden shock” of the closure of racing in the city state late last year, Melbourne-raised Meagher has returned to his old home region by setting up at Pakenham, bringing the star gelding and a handful of others with him.
He’ll in fact start the past two winners of Singapore’s Horse of the Year award at Caulfield on Saturday, with last year’s title holder Lim’s Saltoro (Shamexpress) lining up in the preceding race, and with that five-year-old still with much racing ahead of him.
Lim’s Kosciuszko, however, is about to turn eight, and is not quite the galloping machine who won his first eight races and ultimately ten Singapore “Group 1s” – recognised in the international stud book as “Listed”.
But Meagher believes at least that after his first two races in Australia, the gelding can be among the top chances on Saturday.
Lim’s Kosciuszko was put into work early this year but brought along slowly, having gone foot sore through his first bit of time for many years in a paddock – contrasting the permanent box life of Singapore.
After three trials in March and April, he resumed in Flemington’s Straight Six (Listed, 1200m) in mid-May, finishing strongly for third when beaten 0.55 lengths. He carried topweight under the handicap conditions of 60.5kg, with the next highest allocated weight just 54.5kg.
While Meagher contemplated a return to his other old stamping ground – Brisbane – for the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) – another minor foot issue resulted in the horse staying in Melbourne. He was given 63kg in a 1400-metre Sandown handicap where, given an unfamiliar pacemaker’s role under 2kg apprentice Ryan Houston, he weakened into seventh.
Drawing gate four of 11 for rider Jason Maskiell for the Monash, Lim’s Kosciuszko was rated a $13 chance by bookmakers on Wednesday, behind Joe Pride’s Sydney raider In Flight (Flying Artie), the $2.80 favourite.
Meagher believes while Lim’s Kosciuszko is perhaps a little short of the horse he was – and has, like his trainer, had some issues adapting to the Melbourne winter after years in the tropics – he’ll be vastly better suited by the Monash’s weight-for-age conditions than his past two handicap runs.
“He’s shaping up well,” Meagher told ANZ News. “He is dropping back from 1400 to 1100, but the main thing is he’s back at weight-for-age. That’s very important for him at this stage of his career. He was racing at weight-for-age for pretty much the past three years in Singapore.
“He ran terrific first-up at Flemington, giving everything else six kilos down the straight. Then Sandown was a forget run. He hasn’t led a race for probably three years, and it’s not his go.
“But he’s pulled up well from that. If the old Kosi of 18 months ago comes out – or even from two runs ago – he’ll run really well.
“No doubt, if he gets the right run and he’s feeling up to it, he could definitely sprint super and put in a great showing.”
The compact Lim’s Kosciuszko – one of eight horses in Meagher’s 30-strong stable bearing the name of his major Singapore owner Lim Siah Mong – has unwound a fascinating turf story.
A son of Kermadec (Teofilo), a sire best known for his stayers and whose father has left three Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winners, the gelding likely draws pace from his dam Jacquetta (Encosta De Lago), who was a city winner and Listed placed in Brisbane, both over 1200 metres.
Bred by New Zealand’s Trelawney Stud, Lim’s Kosciuszko was passed in at the 2019 Karaka yearling sale off a $75,000 reserve, and again passed in at the Ready To Run Sale later that year, off a $60,000 reserve. Incidentally, at the same sale, another horse passed in was Mr Brightside (Bullbars), who had a $50,000 reserve. Lim’s Kosciuszko has won $4.3 million, and Mr Brightside $17.3 million.
“Kossie won a trial as a three-year-old in New Zealand by a couple of lengths and Hong Kong people were going to buy him, but they found him too small,” Meagher said. “He’s 470 kilos, and he’s just touching 15.1 hands.
“Then, Mr Lim called me one day and said, ‘Daniel, I’ve bought you a horse’.”
Lim asked Meagher to name this gelding for him. As was Lim’s wont at the time, it had to be named after a mountain starting with the same letter as his sire, in this case Kermadec.
In Meagher’s current stable are the following Lim’s: Saltoro, Perdido, Sarbach, Smythe, Teide and Ida – all mountains in various countries. Meagher stumped Singaporean Lim in selecting Australia’s highest peak.
“Mr Lim rang me a few weeks later and said, ‘Daniel – what have you called this horse? There’s no way I can’t say this name!’” said Meagher. “I tell you what, he can say it now.”
Meagher delivered the pronunciation lessons. But as some may know, he and millions of Australians have been getting it wrong. It was named by a Polish explorer after his countryman and war hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who in fact pronounced it “Koshooshko”.
That might have been a better sounding name for the horse, considering how fast he can travel – not that the pronunciation is ever going to be corrected now.
But however it sounds, Meagher would love for Australian fans to see something close to the real Lim’s Kosciuszko in his remaining days of racing, given his achievements are perhaps underrated by some due to Singapore’s second-tier status.
“I do get a little bit defensive when people say things like that,” Meagher said. “People don’t understand how good it was in Singapore. Yes, it got a bit tired towards the end, we all know that, but this horse went to Hong Kong twice after being invited to compete there.
“A lot of good trainers have been there – Lee and Michael Freedman, Cliff Brown, Laurie Laxon. Proper trainers. We had to beat them, and this horse was in amongst good trainers and good horses at the time and he beat them all.
“People have underestimated him and the Singapore form. I can understand it in a way, but I’d like to prove them wrong if possible. I’m just a bit worried he’s past his best and they’re not going to see him at his best, but I’m trying to get him as good as I can for a good result on Saturday.
“Two years ago, he was electric in Singapore, he was exciting. But obviously with time, and even acclimatising to this bloody cold winter, he’s struggling a bit in that sense – so is the trainer.
“It doesn’t matter where you are. To win ten local Group 1s, 22 races – a lot of people would like to be involved with a horse like that. I’m just happy I have been. Mr Lim and I, we’ve had a lot of fun with him.”
After Singapore racing closed, the affable Meagher moved back to Victoria to be closer to family including his father John – the Melbourne Cup-winning former prominent trainer in Melbourne, Brisbane and Singapore – who now suffers from dementia.
Dan Meagher has been training out of Pakenham since February, and has had one city and one country winner, and is looking ahead as his stable builds up, keen to attract more owners and horses.
“I’ve got about 18 babies – yearlings and two-year-olds – and only seven horses who are able to race at the moment, with all the others at the early stages of their careers,” he said.
“As much as I want it to quicken up, you know you’ve got to be patient and stick to the program. It’s going to take a while to get going, but you’ve just got to keep your head down and bum up.
“At least I know I’m in a great place at Pakenham. It’s an unbelievable place to train. It’s just that after living about 18 years altogether in Singapore, I just wish it wasn’t so bloody cold!”
Lim’s Saltoro was beaten 0.3 lengths into second at Caulfield at his last start. Coupled with Lim’s Kosciuszko’s first-up half length third, Meagher has been close to having two Saturday city winners, which would have given his nascent stable a hefty kick along.
“If I could get two winners this Saturday, that’d be something of a dream come true,” he said.
This article was first featured in ANZ Bloodstock News.