3 minute read
The Cliff Brown trained Gold Strike caught the eye behind Countofmontecristo last start and appears well placed to turn the tables in the seventh event at Kranji on Saturday night.
A narrow second in the Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup last preparation, he's arguably back better than ever.
Kicking off over 1400m in January, Gold Strike was run off his feet, but still closed off well behind Bold Thruster.
Stepped up to the mile last start, he displayed sharp improvement when finishing a close third behind Countofmontecristo.
Admittedly Countofmontecristo pushed him out of the way and dropped him inside the 500m, however Gold Strike did come back at him on the line.
Vlad Duric takes over on Saturday night and he notably meets Countofmontecristo 4.5kg better at the weights.
That's reduced to 1.5kg after Nizar's claim, however still firmly in Gold Strike's corner.
When combined with the Brown stable, Duric is striking at 20% and overall 22% from his last 350 rides, he is flying!
From the middle draw he looks to lob into a lovely spot and he has never missed the money over this trip.
From 16 attempts on the turf track, Gold Strike has placed in 10 and has placed in 2/3 attempts third up.
He's racing in career best form and should prove hard to beat.
No knock on the Michael Clements trained Countofmontecristo, he too is in flying, just a query at the distance.
In four attempts over this trip he is yet to feature, though given his rich vein of form, you would be surprised if he doesn't make his presence felt.
He was very impressive winning last time out, just has to overcome the rise in the weights.
The Lee Freedman trained Sun Marshal split both Gold Strike/ Countofmontecristo first up and can improve further second up (placed 4/4).
He's placed in 7/10 on the turf track and has never missed the money over this trip.
Drawn favourably, he should press forward and be in this for a long way.
Of the rest the Ricardo Le Grange trained King Louis appears the next in line.
Good luck and happy punting.
