3 minute read

If there is one horse who has turned more than a few heads at the Kranji barrier trials of late, it has to be Super Invincible.

The newcomer by I Am Invincible won his two barrier trials impressively. In the first one on July 7, he sat off the leader Magnifique before gunning him down inside the last 100m, and one week later (last Thursday), he elected to lead, coming up with the same end-result - and in the same effortless style.

Trainer Lee Freedman is debuting the three-year-old in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1100m on Polytrack with his barrier trial partner Vlad Duric staying on.

While the Australian mentor concedes there is an engine there, going with both his work and his Australian career when he won two sprint races over 1000m in Victoria (Pakenham and Ballarat) when known as Asateer, he would rather wait for that first local assignment for a better guide.

"This horse had a nice record at home and was known to be a speed horse," said Freedman.

"He won twice over 1000m and both times on synthetic tracks, which should put him in good stead for the short sprint races here. I'd be disappointed if he doesn't show the same form here.

"He seems to be a pure sprinter on paper, but let's take it one race at a time. He's drawn one on Sunday, which is also nice to have.

"I like all his work so far and I'm very happy with what I've seen from him, but like for all newcomers, let's see what they do in their races first."

Super Invincible is raced by the Joy N Happiness Stable, which racegoers will remember as the outfit who once raced two-time Singapore Horse of the Year Super Easy when trained by Freedman's younger brother Michael.

Another Freedman debutant having his first Singapore go is Blitzing, a former Hong Kong sprinter running in the $70,000 Class 3 Division 2 race over 1200m. The Jimmy Choux five-year-old is raced by the same connections as Freedman's 2019 Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1400m) winner Blizzard.

Last trained by Tony Cruz, Blitzing is a three-time winner (all at Happy Valley over 1200m) who has also pleased his new trainer with his output on the training tracks at Kranji.

"Blitzing is an old Hong Kong horse owned by the same connections as Blizzard and Jomo, the Upper Racing Stable. He hasn't raced for some time (since May 2019), but he's looking good, too," said Freedman.

"He seems to be a 1200m to 1400m type, but time will tell."

One runner he knows well given his smart record of four wins and two placings from eight starts is Excelling , but who, he feels, won't be in for a cushy time in the $85,000 Class 2 race over 1100m.

"It's a tough solid Class 2 race," he said.

"After a long layoff, all the good Class 2 horses wanted a run and they all got in. My horse hasn't done anything wrong since he's been here.

"He's drawn well (two), and as he seems to like going with the pace, that will suit him."

Other handy Class 2 sprinters in the field include the likes of Zac Kasa, Lim's Dream, My Dreamliner and Aramaayo.

Freedman has booked Louis-Philippe Beuzelin for the steering job on the Manhattan Rain five-year-old (their first partnership) while A'Isisuhairi Kasim, who rode his first post-Circuit Breaker winner Nationality (before Sun Chess brought up a training double later) on July 11, takes the ride on Blitzing.