A tough card awaits punters this Friday at Kranji, with three relatively straight forward maidens to navigate before a few tricky handicaps close off the meeting. First race is off at 12:50.
LIM’S MOMENT looks to pick of the bunch as far as confident selections go, with the five-year-old debutante backed up by two solid trials prior to this. Unsurprisingly, he is our best bet on the card in what appears to be a very weak maiden. KUBERA’S CHIEF looks to be a bit of value, on the other hand. He lines up in the 6th Race on the card and off his reduced rating, could pop up with a decent dividend.
Last weekend’s selections landed three winners, including the best bet:
Singapore – Sunday 8 September:
• Race 4: High Street (33/10)
• Race 5: Wolf Warrior our best bet (6/10).
• Race 8: Yulong Edition (18/10)
Best Bet: LIM’S MOMENT (Race 5)
Value Bet: KUBERA’S CHIEF (Race 6)
Race 1 – 12:50
Selections: 4 – 3 – 9 – 11 – 6
A Class 5 event gets us underway, an 1100m on the poly where 11 runners go to post. GOLD COAST gets the nod for first prize. His connections have wasted no time in exposing him to winners, after three fair efforts in Maiden / Restricted company. His last two efforts in particular, have been full of merit. In his penultimate start on Turf, he had a tough draw to overcome but managed to finish just 2,50 lengths off the winner – FIELD MARSHALL. FIELD MARSHALL since came out and franked the form last Friday (6th September 2019), taking his career record to two wins from two appearances. GOLD COAST followed up that effort with a good 4th behind UNIVERSAL EMPIRE last time out on the Poly and from gate 1 today, he looks the likely winner here. PAPERBACK TROOPER is tipped for 2nd after that impressive win over the course and distance, beating HIGH STREET last time out. The 7-year-old rolled back the years to notch up his second career win and his connections will be hoping it doesn’t take another 34 starts to find another. They will however, be buoyed by the fact that HIGH STREET franked the form by winning his follow up effort, last Sunday 8th September – albeit over a mile. Woodworth retains the ride and he must be included. RIVER TREASURE showed good improvement last time out, finishing just behind the second selection (PAPERBACK TROOPER). He has a slightly more difficult draw to overcome this time, but with this being his 7th career start, he should have the expected scope for improvement and is expected to feature prominently. HIGH LIMIT didn’t enjoy the mile last time out, when having a tricky draw to negate. He drops back to a more desirable trip today and lands a much better draw. Prior to that last run, he finished just behind (1.90 lengths) FIELD MARSHALL in a trial and as mentioned above, FIELD MARSHALL has since come out and won. HIGH LIMIT has picked up some condition of late, which may indicate that he is in a good place right now and with mild improvement he should be right there.
Race 2 – 13:20
Selections: 1 – 3 – 5 – 2 – 4
The first of three maidens will greet us in the second race on the card and it looks a relatively straight forward affair, over 1200m on the Poly. LIM’S RAY looks the obvious one to land the lion’s share of the prize money. He showed good resolve to feature prominently when stepping into Class 4 company last time out, going down 3 lengths to TARO SAN. The latter has had a decent career start, with a record of 2 wins and 5 places from just 13 starts. Back in Maiden company today, LIM’S RAY looks the likely winner with Woodworth retaining the ride. His biggest danger appears to be in the form of COMING UP, who is fitted with the tongue tie today. He followed up that victorious trial with a bold showing behind GRAND CHOICE last time out, who is yet to miss the first three from 6 appearances. COMING UP will be partnered with champion jockey Vlad Duric this time around and with natural progression to come, he could be a real threat to the top selection. SAYONARA showed good improvement in his second official start last time out, finishing just behind the second selection. With another useful draw and Rodd retaining the ride, he should be progressive enough to finish in the top four. GIANT KILLING was disappointing last time out when stepping up to the mile on turf. Going on his penultimate start, he finished just off them in a Class 5 event over the course and distance. In comparison, he jumps from a much-improved draw today and looks the best of the rest, in what appears to be a modest field.
Race 3 – 13:50
Selections: 8 – 12 – 3 – 1 – 14
The third race on the card looks tough. A Restricted Maiden for two and three-year-olds, under weight-for-age conditions. RESOLUTION is a weak selection for first, having only had the one start under his belt, when finishing 6th behind NO REGRETS. He jumped from gate 10 in that run and will benefit from a much-improved draw today. He has been gelded since and subsequently put forward an encouraging effort in a trial, when stepping back on the poly last time. With natural improvement to come, he looks the right one here. TOM CAT is a three-year-old Australian bred son of Wandjina, who has only had two trials to date. He showed the expected improvement in that follow up effort and that should be enough to be highly competitive here. Fitted with the cross-nose band, he could roll forward from gate 8 and go close. KRUGER finished just behind TOM CAT in that opening trial and subsequently improved in his follow up effort, when having the blinkers fitted. Kellady retains the ride for his official debut and from a useful draw, he should be involved in the finish. EUNOS AVE THREE was disappointing on debut, when having to negotiate a rather wide draw. On his trial before that, he finished 0.50 lengths behind COMING THROUGH who subsequently won on debut and ran 2.8 lengths behind FIELD MARSHALL thereafter. From a much-improved draw today, he deserves a second chance and wouldn’t be a surprise winner.
Race 4 – 14:40
Selections: 7 – 1 – 9 – 2 – 8
A Class 4 event brings us to the half-way mark on the card and we’ve gone with the bang-in-form DAZZLE GOLD to bring home the ‘bacon’. He goes for the ever-elusive hat-trick of wins, having found encouraging form since stepping back on to the Poly in his last two starts. He has been penalized 11 points for both of those wins, but lands in barrier draw 1 with Rodd up for his 11th outing and he looks set to continue his rich vein of form. The South African bred MIGHTY EMPEROR is picked for second, with his drop in to Class 4 opposition today. The 8-time winning 8-year-old is the half-brother to South African champion – DO IT AGAIN, who recently landed the country’s biggest prize (Vodacom Durban July) for the second time in a row. He has some useful form to his name and he will benefit from landing a solid draw for today’s outing. With the 3kg claimer up, he should be competitive in this lesser class of opposition. SUN ACE showed good resolve last week, when going down just over half a length in third place. The son of Street Cry is still a maiden, but he is still getting going in his career and he hasn’t been disgraced in this company. He jumps from gate 5 again, with Collett retaining the ride and with this useful galloping weight on his back, must be respected. REDDOT RISING finished just off them last time out, when dropping back into this class. The 1000m was well short of his best and he will enjoy stepping back up in trip today. He likes to come from off the pace, so draw 12 shouldn’t deter his followers and a fast finish will be expected from off the pace.
Race 5 – 14:50
Selections: 4 – 1 – 2 – 5 – 3
LIM’S MOMENT is our best bet on tonight’s card. He makes his official debut as a five-year-old, so the assumption can be made that it hasn’t been easy getting him here. With that said, he has shown some ability in his trials so far and he lands a decent draw for his career opener today. With Woodworth taking the mount, he won’t need to be a champion to beat this modest field of maidens. ROMANTIC jumps from gate 10 for his Singapore career opener, which won’t make things easy. The New Zealand bred son of Showcasing ran third in his only start in New Zealand and has been gelded since. He finished well back in his only trial here, but wasn’t asked to extend himself and could just show his worth on his local debut. ORIENT EXPRESS has only shown promise in one of his 8 starts so far and that came over this course and distance. The son of Epsom Derby winning Pour Moi, could feature prominently if finding his best form so far and must be included. RETALLICA has had two starts so far and both outings came over this trip on Turf, where he showed very little. One can argue that he drew wide on both occasions and that may have put an end to any signs of promise he may have shown at home. He has since placed and won his last two trials respectively, with the key being the change to today’s surface. If building on those two efforts, he could shape to feature here.
Race 6 – 15:20
Selections: 3 – 7 – 2 – 4 – 5
KUBERA’S CHIEF put in a decent effort last time out, on the Turf track and he will relish the return to the Polytrack today. He has won over this course and distance and he has been a consistent place runner in this class of opposition. The drop in ratings will certainly help and if travelling as well as he did in his last start, he should be the main factor here. MAKE U FAMOUS is still a maiden after 26 starts and he seems to have had ‘in and out’ form throughout his career. He has however, featured prominently over this course and distance, in similar company recently. With Rodd taking the mount from pole today, he should find no issues taking up the early running where he likes to settle. THOTH WARRIOR had strung a few decent runs together, before his last two starts where he found tricky draws to overcome. He will certainly benefit from landing gate 4 this time around and if recapturing his prior form, looks good enough to fight this weak Class 5 event out. YULONG SHENGDAO has been thereabouts before that moderate last effort, when finding little luck at the start. He has been dropping in the ratings and has an improved draw today. That will mean an easy passage to the front, where he likes to take up the running. With the reduced trip in mind, he could be tough to catch in closing stages and must be considered in this weak field.
Race 7 – 15:50
Selections: 2 – 7 – 8 – 3 – 10
The feature of the evening greets us in the 7th event on the card, a competitive event over 1000m and we have sided with WEBSTER to land first prize. He is a consistent six-year-old in solid form. He was just edged out of first place by ARAMCO last time out, who is also a five-time winner from 19 starts. Landing another good draw, he partners up with Benny Woodworth for the first time, on his debut over this trip. The classy son of Showcasing has plenty more to offer and looks more than capable of another bold showing in this class. DINGHU MOUNTAIN has been competitive in this class of opposition, in his last few starts and he clearly enjoyed stepping back on to the Poly last time out. That was after a 3-month absence, so in all fairness he may have just needed the run. He finished just behind the top selection four starts back and with 6kg’s less to shoulder this time, must be included from gate 2. SACRED SHAM has put forward two useful efforts since stepping into Class 2 company, confirming his progressive nature. He will have to improve further in order to win this, but with only five starts under his belt, he could have the necessary scope to go close. The son of O’Reilly does have a slightly wider draw to overcome this time, but he should manage to find a mid-field position with relative ease and must be considered. DARC BOUNTY showed his ability to race fresh when returning from a six-month absence from the course last time, to finish under a length in second. He has since completed a trial which would’ve sharpened him up even more and with his solid course and distance record in mind, should feature prominently once again. He does have a wide draw to contend with, but his gate speed should go some way to nullifying that and another bold showing is expected here.
Race 8 – 16:20
Selections: 1 – 5 – 3 – 11 – 6
The final event on the card throws another tricky affair to analyse for punters. This Class 4 – 1000m dash looks likely to end in a bunch finish and we have sided with the top weight SIERRA CONQUEROR to lead them home. He attempted to go start to finish last week and only weakened over the last 100m, this course and distance. That was his third start since dropping into Class 4 opposition and off his current rating, he looks competitive. From gate 5 this time, he will look for another handy position and if held together a fraction longer, he could present a tough challenge for the late finishers to pass him. LIM’S PASSION clearly enjoyed the drop in trip last time out, when overcoming a tough draw. He finished like a train on that occasion and although he attempts an even shorter trip here, Woodworth retains the ride and we could see something similar from another wide berth. SUN STEP makes his local debut today after two promising trials. Twice a winner in Australia before making the journey north and both of those runs were over sprints. He managed to get the better of a top horse in the form of MARINARESCO (SAF), in that latest trial and from gate 3 should feature prominently to get his Singapore career off on a good note. GOOD CATCH has had a few wide draws to negotiate in his last few efforts and despite that, he has managed to finish just off them. He is starting to appear more and more competitive as he drops further in the ratings and from gate 6, looks an even bigger threat today.
