3 minute read
The saviour for bettors tonight looks to be Michael in Race Eight on the card, the S$95K Open Benchmark 89 on the poly over 1800m.
Photo by Racing and Sports
He is a Derby prospect next year and when at 1700m or further his record is rather sound with eighth starts for two wins and three placings but also a fourth (at G2) and a fifth.
The son of Towkay will be ridden by Joao Moreira and is trained by Laurie Laxon, with both men premiership winners and at least one of them will be on top this year too.
Moreira is the patron saint of winning and took Hong Kong by storm earlier in the week when nailing the Longines Jockey Series with four classic rides.
He made Happy Valley look like a track he had ridden on all his life but that was far from the truth and his two wins and two fourths showed the rightful champion won the silver whip, giant cup and special Longines watch.
The Cup that Joao won was nearly of a Stanley Cup size and the cash first prize was a nice earner too!
Tonight will be the last time to see Moreira at Kranji this year but he will rise again in the New Year, so his army of followers should turn up in force and salute the international star of 2012.
He has ridden Michael six times so far for three wins, two placings and that last start fourth over 1400m, which was an eyecatcher.
The distance jump tonight is in his favour and he has won on the poly and placed twice on it too.
A good draw and 53.5kg plus the fact Laxon has taken the gloves of for the final rounds of the training premiership to be level with Michael Freedman suggests this will be a bare knuckle brawl to the end.
The field for the feature lacks depth and Michael has upside plus closing stamina and power.
He has these covered whichever way you slice and dice up the form analysis and if they go hard will swamp and if they muck around an earlier move will be made.
Laxon has another runner in the race that is a chance called Forgiven and it is already a four-time poly winner.
The gelding has won up to 1900m on the all weather and is tough enough having raced at least once every month this year since February.
Barend Vorster will ride for the first time but at 50kg he is the right man to put atop and Laxon will have factored that in.
Tenzing is the highest peak performer in the field and has won on the poly with the successful scaling coming at 1700m.
Cliff Brown trains the already G3 winner that is not the luckiest galloper heath-wise but when fit and well not many ascend like him over the opposition in the closing stages.
He comes back from G3 last week at 55kg for this evening and is down several grades but will carry the same weight after a 4kg claim of W X Wong.
The apprentice has ridden Tenzing once before and the result was a solid finishing sixth at 1400m four starts ago.
More time to wind up tonight and Tenzing has in his four wins in Singapore scored at 1600m up to 2000m so he is in the right range here.
I give Hint a chance because this is a massive class drop back from the G1 Longines Singapore Gold Cup last start.
The fact he has had five starts on the poly for no dividends paid is a real concern and fifths or sixths are the best he has done so far.
However his trainer Steve Burridge is the other wrestler in the premiership match with a chance to pin the other pair into submission and he knows a soft feature race kill when he sees one.
This could be a stepping-stone to Hint winning in Malaysia afterwards so never doubt the intricate planning by Burridge in advance.
Oscar Chavez rides and he has been atop seven times before for two wins and a placing so knows the strength of Hint the run home.
Daring Fighter will have just 46kg if the apprentice can get down to that postage stamp weight and is a chance in a race that could be muddling run at times but likely to see a couple move a long way out.
The gelding is a three-time winner on the poly and his last victory came at 1800m on the all weather for another apprentice, so is not a hard horse to ride.
Moreira is the only show in town tonight however as the pride of Brazil and the favourite adopted son of Singapore is now the conqueror of Hong Kong.
He will ride tonight at least once for all the three stables fighting it out in the training premiership race but will treat every mount as an opportuntity for further joyous success.
Moreira is the turnover king of Kranji.
Enjoy the meeting and last time to back Joao at Kranji for 2012.
