France and a part of Spain scored an emotional win in Sunday's $3 million Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m) when Chinchon emerged victorious to bag the coveted event for trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias whose father passed away last Friday. The Spanish-born French trainer had arrived in Singapore on Thursday to apply the finishing touches to Chinchon at Kranji, but had to urgently fly back to Seville on Friday night after news of his father’s passing came through.
Despite the harrowing time the Laffon-Parias camp was going through, there was still a job to be done on Sunday. Laffon-Parias’ wife Patricia stayed in Singapore to take over the helm and ensure that the preparation which had already been well-executed by the ground crew headed by track rider Jean-Luc Hanot, went without a hitch until D-day.

Chinchon, whose last run was an eighth to Rulership in the Group 1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) was at his second attempt in the SIA Cup after he ran fifth to Gitano Hernando in last year’s edition. All week, the mood build-up in the French camp had been bullish given he had been working a lot better than in 2011, especially after his turf gallop on Wednesday.

He may not have been around, but Laffon-Parias’ foundation work certainly paid off on Sunday through the way Chinchon, a seven-year-old entire by Marju, outstayed his rivals in a field whittled down to 11 following the early scratching of Always Certain and the late scratching of City Style.

In line with his get-back pattern, Chinchon ($29) was settled by Hong Kong-based French jockey Olivier Doleuze in the rear division on the fence and seemingly relishing the rain-affected track which had been downgraded to soft, while local hopes Flax (Jose Verenzuela) and Waikato (Opie Bosson) set the pace at the head of affairs.
Among the internationals, favourite Zazou (Andreas Suborics) looked the most likely, enjoying the run of the race in third place on the rails, while the other French raider Dream Peace (Gerald Mosse) was the worse off, trapped four deep for most of the way.

Hong Kong’s trio of Zaidan (James McDonald), California Memory (Felix Coetzee) and Thumbs Up (Brett Prebble) were strung up in the second and third tier, biding their time before launching their challenge.

But upon straightening, Flax was showing no signs of abdication and at the 400m still looked a strong chance of giving the Newbury Racing Stable a fairytale double on Singapore’s biggest racing night after they took out the sister-race, the KrisFlyer International Sprint with Ato.

The Cup however slipped through their hands as the foreign charge headed by Zazou, Zaidan and Chinchon started to make rapid ground. The Waldemar Hickst-trained Zazou was the first to shorten up while the John Moore-trained Zaidan kept plugging away, but it was Chinchon who reigned supreme in the end as he powered away in the last 100m to draw away for a three-length win over Zaidan.