Former Singapore cult horse Golden Monkey set for Good Friday return in the Country Discovery at Echuca

The Tim Fitzsimmons-trained Golden Monkey has settled with aplomb into his new Bendigo surrounds and progressed nicely at the jump outs – placed third, second and first in the 1000-1050m pipe-openers.

“Where he measures up (race day here) remains to be seen,” Fitzsimmons said.

“The Country Discovery is a nice starting point for him, probably would’ve preferred it being 1100m or 1200m, which it has been in the past.

“The 1000m might be a little bit sharp for him after not racing since September.”

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Golden Monkey placed in three of five Australian starts for trainer Clayton Douglas before he joined Melbourne expat Fitzsimmons in The Lion City and became a pin-up sprinter-miler.

Golden Monkey won eight of 26 starts with Fitzsimmons, including the domestic Group 1 Singapore Derby.

“He had a bit of a cult following,” Fitzsimmons said.

“He was champion three-year-old, champion four-year-old, he won the Derby there, if it wasn’t for Lim’s Kosciuszko, probably the best horse in Singapore, (he could’ve won a lot more).

“He ran second to him (three times), a bit like Hay List and Black Caviar … he always had his measure, but we’re doing our best to avoid him in Australia.”

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Lim’s Kosciuszko, trained by Dan Meagher, could resume in the Group 1 The Goodwood in Adelaide next month.

Fitzsimmons has travel plans of his own potentially for Golden Monkey.

“It’s really hard to know until you get him out there racing,” Fitzsimmons said.

“I’d like to think hopefully he’s around that Group 3, Group 2 mark. If he surprises me and is better than that, no one would be happier than me.

“We’re going to try and be a little bit selective, if he pulls up well we probably go to the Wagga Town Plate in two weeks’ time and long range, the Glasshouse Handicap at Sunshine Coast.

“It would be a good race for him, we’re not going to set our sights too high, just going to see where he’s at.”

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Fitzsimmons has 25 boxes at Bendigo and 20 horses on the books, including about 10 ex-Singapore gallopers.

“Ideally I’d like to keep it as a smaller stable, get up to 40-50 and we could rotate through,” Fitzsimmons said.

“It’s going to take time for sure, the Singapore horses are all different levels of ability, we got to buy a few young horses (already) bought a few nice ones.

“It will take 18 months to really get going but we’ve got some really good owners and want to focus on quality rather than quantity.”

Originally published as Former Singapore cult horse Golden Monkey set for Good Friday return in the Country Discovery at Echuca