Clement's Tiger Roars louder

Two weeks ago, we heard it loud and clear – Tiger Roar drumrolled his return from a long break to come from behind and very wide to finish third in his trial.

With improvement at a rate of knots, his roar has become louder.

The Singapore-Three-Year-Old Champion is a must-follow when he resumes racing on June 4, following his trial victory yesterday.

And, what a win it was.

Noted as a backmarker with a powerful finish, the Michael Clements-trained Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint (1,200m) winner and Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1,400m) runner-up won his trial from an unlikely forward position.

This proves that the horse is raring to go. 

The five-time winner from 11 starts was rested after his fifth in a Kranji Stakes C event over 1,600m last October.

Yes, I did a double take when I heard his name after Seson and looked up to see him overtake the leader from the home turn. 

He stretched out fluently to win the 1,000m heat over the Polytrack 1,000m in 60.42 seconds. 

Leading jockey Manoel Nunes was astride.

Clements was naturally pleased with his charge’s fast progress.

“It’s another good trial from Tiger Roar,” he said, adding the reason for the forward run.

“I feel that the pace of the trial was quite slow, compared to the usual trial pace.

“So he did find himself in a more forward position, which, like you say, is unlike him.

“But I think it was more due to the pace of the trial.

“In saying that, he is fresh and strong, and showing quite a bit more speed than he would during his preparations.

“This is obviously due to the fact that he has had a long break and he is coming back fresh in his trial, like this one for his run on 4th June.”

Clements is looking forward to Tiger Roar’s comeback to make up for lost time. He was listed as a Singapore Gold Cup prospect with his staying power.

But he had to be spelled due to knee chips to his bottom joint. He went for surgery to flush them out.

“So really pleased with his progress,” said the Zimbabwe-born naturalised Singaporean.

“He stepped up from his last trial today and found himself in front and he handled it quite well, because it is not the usual position for him to be in his trials and races.

“But he handled it well. Looking forward to get him to the races.”

It was three-from-three in a row for Clements yesterday.

His entries for the first two trials, Star Victory and Quarter Back, won in 60.42sec and 60.76sec respectively.

Trainer Stephen Gray’s Wecando took Trial 4 – in the fastest time, 59.77sec, with Wong Chin Chuen in the saddle.

Jockey Matthew Kellady rode trainer Shane Baertschiger’s Always Innocent to take the final trial in 60.64sec.

Yesterday’s Kranji barrier trial results:

TRIAL 1
1 Star Victory (M Lerner) 2 Commodore (R Stewart) 
3 Narzar (N Zyrul) 4 Palmaria (D Beasley)
5 Storm Deity (TH Koh)
Margins and time: 
1, 10 3/4, 1 1/2, 6 1/4 (1min 00.42sec)

TRIAL 2
1 Quarter Back 2 Super Extreme (I Saifudin)
3 Top Field (Beasley) 4 Sun Elizabeth (S John)
5 Flying Yellow (L Beuzelin)
Margins and time: 
7 1/4, 1 3/4, 1 3/4, 4 1/4 (1:00.76)

TRIAL 3
1 Tiger Roar (M Nunes) 2 Seson (O Chavez)
3 Wealth Elite (WH Kok) 4 Lim’s Straight (Beasley)
5 Dancing Tycoon (CC Wong)
6 Tiger Leap (Stewart)
Margins and time: 
1 1/4, 3/4, 11, ns, 1 1/4 (1:00.42)

TRIAL 4
1 Wecando (Wong) 2 Elliot Ness (K Hakim)
3 Boy Xander (Nunes) 4 Conflagrance (Chavez)
5 Molineux (Lerner) 6 Absolvido (Kok)
Margins and time: 
2, 3, 2, 4 1/4, shd (59.77sec)

TRIAL 5
1 Always Innocent (M Kellady)
2 Flashfast (Nunes) 3 Golden Tiger (Saifudin)
4 St Alwyn (Wong) 5 Super Atas (J Bayliss)
6 David’s Sling (Chavez)
Margins and time: 
1/2, 2 3/4, 3 1/4, 4 1/4, 1 1/4 (1:00.64)