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King’s Command boosted his chances of a ticket to the $1 million Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) after his commanding win on Saturday.

On 67 points, trainer Shane Baertschiger's five-year-old grey languished around 10 nominations down the list of the time-honoured handicap race, badly in need of a win to climb his way up closer to the cut-off mark.

While it was mission accomplished after the son of Tavistock came off a patient ride from claiming jockey Zyrul Nor Azman to take out the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1800m, they're not out of the woods yet.

A penalty of say five to six points from the handicapper might only see him leapfrog over six or seven runners – which may or may not be enough.

With the race still three weeks away on November 14, his Australian handler, however, remained upbeat given much water could go under the bridge by then.

"He had to win today. There's no way he would have won with 59kgs and that's why I put Zyrul on – to get three kilos off," said Baertschiger.

"Zy has won on Aramco (same owners as King's Command ) before. He's one of the best three-kilo claimers around, and as he was available, I booked him early.

"My instructions to him today were to settle midfield or worse than midfield. When I saw the two leaders (Buddy Buddy and Con Speranza) going at each other upfront, I was smiling.

"The win has even more merit after he ripped his front shoe down the backstraight. He's a really nice horse.

"He was a bit flat after his last run (July 3) before he was supposed to run in the Singapore Derby. I gave him a spell and today was his first time going beyond the mile, second-up over 1800m.

"But he's a Tavistock, I never had any doubt he can get the trip and even 2000m. He would be a good lightweight chance in the Gold Cup.

"He beat Hard Too Think (Singapore Derby winner and recent Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner) six runs back, and Hard Too Think is probably going to be one of the Gold Cup favourites.

"I hope he can get in. After today's win, if he gets six or seven points, he'd probably go up to around 18th position.

"But I can tell you Preditor (84 points) won't run, so that frees up one slot. We just have to wait and see."

The capacity field for the Singapore Gold Cup is 16.

Given the host of permutations still at play, Baertschiger is in no hurry to book a jockey, who is likely to be a lightweight – like Zyrul, an underrated jockey who was incidentally toasting to his best day at the office in Singapore with a first hat-trick of winners.

The former New Zealand-trained apprentice jockey, who returned to Singapore to be indentured to ex-Kranji trainer Bruce Marsh in 2017, has always been recognised as an able pair of hands, but for some reason, the 33-year-old has never been among the most sought-after claimers despite a career haul of 65 winners (29 in New Zealand).

It remains to be seen if he keeps the ride on King's Command in the Singapore Gold Cup, but to him, he was already rapt he had been handed the reins on Saturday, moreover capping his most memorable day in the saddle to-date.

"This is my first treble. I never had one in New Zealand either," said Zyrul.

"I came close a few times here, but I could only ride doubles (Dreamer Legend and Lonhro Gold on May 10, 2019 and again Dreamer Legend, and Mings Man on January 26, 2020).

"After doing the form today, I did think I could have a good day, but in the end, only King's Command won, and two others I didn't expect!

"I actually thought Nate's Honour was a big chance, and not Nate's Champion, but it wasn't Nate's Honour's day today. We tried to go forward, but he couldn't.

"I was quite surprised with Nate's Champion ($27, in the $30,000 Class 5 race over 1200m), however. Credit to Tim (Fitzsimmons) who prepares his horses very well.

"I also thought I had a chance on Mings Man (in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1600m) for my boss Jason Ong. Nobody wanted to go forward, he led, but he's an old horse now (12yo), and you can't expect much from him.

"He's still my pet horse. Not only he gave me my very first win at Kranji (September 8, 2017), but amazingly, he's won at least once for me every year (twice in 2019).

"As for Wind Of Dubai ($59, in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 1 race over 1400m), he was a lucky pick-up ride for James Peters. I only found out I was riding him at 10am.

"I didn't have time to study his form. James just told me to go forward and do my best.

"Turning for home, I thought I was on a great pick-up ride and he won a nice race."

Obviously, the winner he had been spending a much longer time doing his homework over was King's Command, and it showed in his cool and composed handling throughout the 1800m trip.

Switched off in fifth place, spotting as much as 10 lengths the duelling duo of Buddy Buddy (Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui) and Con Speranza (Oscar Chavez) midrace, King's Command ($21) loomed as a major threat as he took closer order coming off the far corner.

Cheval Blanc (Marc Lerner) and Rambo (Danny Beasley) were also letting down at the same time, but King's Command closed off better to get up by 1 ¾ lengths from Cheval Blanc with Gold Reward (A'Isisuhairi Kasim) flying home late to deny Rambo of third place by a short head another three-quarter length away.

The winning time was 1min 48.48secs for the 1800m on the Long Course.

"Shane asked me about King's Command two weeks prior to the race. He wanted to claim three kilos," said Zyrul.

"I didn't get to ride him in trackwork, as Shane only uses his own track riders to work his horses, but I've done my form, and also asked for some info from Danny (Beasley) and Matty (Kellady) who know him better.

"To be honest, I wasn't feeling any pressure. I suppose Shane wanted an experienced rider who can still claim, and there aren't many of them.

"Don't forget I have around 800 rides under my belt, so I'm used to those situations. I was quite confident before the race.

"Around the 600m, I thought the leaders were too far ahead, so I started to make a move, but I also knew with the Long Course, he still had a good chance to catch them, and he did just that.

"I don't know if I will keep the ride in the Gold Cup as Shane also has to give priority to Mohd Zaki. It was a real honour to ride him and win on him today.

"It's been a great day all in all, and I'd like to dedicate it to my wife Nor Fazila and my 10-month-old daughter Zehra Fae."

King's Command has now taken his smart record to five wins and three placings from 14 starts for more than $155,000 in stakes earnings for the Aramco Stable.