Big China holds winning form

Last time, at Kuala Lumpur on Oct 12, Big China never gave the rest a whiff of his withers when he led them on a merry chase.

Sure, they came at him in that run to the post. But they were never going to put a dent into his lead and Big China cruised in to beat Top Show by ½-length.

It was his fourth win from 26 starts and trainer Johnny Lim Boon Thong must have been truly impressed with what he saw.

How else to explain the quick return to racing?

Yes, Big China will see action in the Class 5 Division A race which will be run over the mile at the Sungai Besi racecourse on Oct 26.

It is 100m shorter than the 1,700m he covered on Oct 12 but, if anything, it should be right up his alley.

Still, and to leave no stone unturned, it was on the morning of Oct 22 that Lim sent his charge out for a gallop on the training track.

It was an easy piece of work and Big China disposed of the 600m in 40.5sec.

The ghostly grey by Vert De Grece can win by racing from the front, as we saw on Oct 12 with apprentice Uzair Sharudin aboard.

He can also come off a spot in midfield to catch his rivals when winning a Class 5 1,200m race, under apprentice Nuqman Rozi, on March 10.

Yes, this five-year-old owned by Cat Racing Stable, who raced handy sorts like Big Union and Big Return at Kranji, might be too smart and sharp for Class 5. Come Oct 26, his connections should be in for a painless watch before their charge is, rightfully, promoted to Class 4.

In terms of faster work, many trackside would have been impressed with the gallop thrown in by Intrepid. From the bang-in-form stables of Simon Dunderdale, Intrepid lived up to her name when she went boldly over the 600m in a fast and furious 35.2sec.

Forget her last two runs on Sept 22 and Oct 12, when she finished down the course.

The eight-year-old Blackfriars mare, who is already a 10-time winner from 67 starts, is better than that.

Look instead at that win over the Kuala Lumpur 1,400m on Aug 4.

That day, when ridden by Jagadishan Daniel, Intrepid was slow out of the gates but she came home with big, bounding strides to take the honours.

She meets some tough ones in that 1,200m event coming up on Oct 26, but gets into the race with the bottomweight of 53kg.

The races on Oct 27 should also be well contested and, among the combatants who will see action, there were three who stood out on the training track.

Jazz Band ran out the 600m in a breezy 37sec.

Baghdad jumped from the gates and covered the same distance in 36.4sec while Arif, who was having a barrier practice, raced over 400m in 22.8sec.

Kicking off with Jazz Band, the five-year-old has not won in his last five starts but, on three occasions, he did put money into the kitty when making the board.

He took second on Aug 4 and finished third on Sept 1.

Last time out on Oct 6, we saw him finish fourth – after having to race wide for most of the 1,020m sprint trip.

Here is the thing. All those races were in Class 4.

For his assignment on Oct 27, the Tavistock gelding tumbles into Class 5. That is his comfort zone.

As for Baghdad, his last win was on June 30. That was over the 1,200m and, under apprentice Azizi Azhari, he came off a spot in deep midfield to beat Autumn Blitz by ½-length.

An eight-year-old by Per Incanto, Baghdad has won four races for his current trainer, Nick Selvan. In total, he has won seven times from 54 outings.

Selvan has picked a winnable sort of race for his charge, who has had a two-week break since that last start on Oct 12.

That gallop on Oct 22 would have helped trim off any excesses and, come Oct 27, he should be ripe and ready.

As for Arif, he is an Irish-bred who does not seem to know that he is already a 12-year-old.

From Sharee Hamilton’s yard, the Nayef gelding continues to give everything in his races.

He had an easy 400m trial on Oct 8, when he finished fourth and, coupled with that sprint on Oct 22, the 11-time winner from 92 outings could be something else at that next start coming up.

 

brian@sph.com.sg