TWO of Singapore’s best horses fight out the finish to the 20^TH Emirates Singapore Derby at Kranji on Sunday and South African-born Patrick Shaw’s Quechua stuck his neck out to hold out a valiant War Affair.

Fastnet Dragon snuck in on the inside to just miss the runner-up spot by a nose in third, but  Shaw’s Argentinian-bred hung on to win and has now notched up two of the Grand Slam races on the local circuit after he captured the Longines Singapore Gold Cup last November.

Pat Shaw, a second Derby winner in Singapore.

Given a peach of a ride by regular partner Corey Brown in the $1.15 million Group 1 race over 2000m, the son of Pure Prize was always in the gun spot tracking up pacesetter Order Of The Sun (Benny Woodworth) before making his crucial move upon straightening.

“He’s been such a good horse to us. He’s won the Gold Cup and now the Derby, what more can you ask of him,” said Shaw who’d won his second Derby after success with Our Falstaff in 2006.

“The plan was to go forward today from the wide draw, but I left it to Corey to decide where he wanted him to be.

“I was pretty confident he would be right in it coming to the top of the straight as he’s such a fighter. He dug down real deep when War Affair got to him, and was just too good today. Corey also gave him a great ride.

“He’s going for a well-deserved break now and I will probably bring him back for the Weight-for-Age races as well as Kranji Mile, Raffles Cup leading up to the Gold Cup.”