Bold Thruster ready to rumble
Top of the trials from the Kranji racecourse
If you are good, you're good. No dispute there. And Bold Thruster is, well, more than good.
A winner of back-to-back Singapore Group 3 races - the Fortune Bowl and the Silver Bowl - this season, the big fella saw his fine run grind to a halt when racing went into hibernation in early April.
Well, if you're a fan of Bold Thruster, here's the good news. Trainer Michael Clements has got his charge ticking over.
No rust on those legs. No lessening up on desire.
How do we know it? Well, Bold Thruster was at the trials yesterday morning and he won that 1,000m hit-out with that proverbial leg in the air.
Indeed, it will take a really good horse to run him down in his next race start.
Back to that trial, Clements had his trusted jockey Louis-Philippe Beuzelin doing the steering and both horse and rider never missed a beat.
The Frenchman was glad to take the seat and, right from the get-go, he would have known he had a mighty fine motor beneath him.
So it was, after that initial hustle and bustle, Beuzelin got Bold Thruster to settle into a rhythm and, when the field made that first turn on the far side, he was dictating things.
Bold Thruster liked that leading role and straightened two lengths clear of Tax Free and Sacred Gift.
Completely relaxed and doing it on memory, Bold Thruster covered the stretch at a steady clip and, while Sacred Gift did mount a challenge over the final 100m, Bold Thruster had enough in the tank to pinch the trial by a neck.
Considering that he was never pushed over the final 200m, his time of 60.10sec for the 1,000m was pretty decent.
To date, the black beauty has banked in excess of $800,000 for his owners, Tivic Stable, and he has not yet made any plans for retirement.
Keep an eye on him when he does resume racing. He's going to bolt in.
Another one who impressed was Our Secret Weapon.
He took the final trial of the morning - and he took it in style.
Indeed, it was a baffling sort of trial. Jockey Mark Ewe had taken the lead on David's Star from the jump-out, and they had put a dozen lengths between himself and the rest on straightening.
So far ahead were they that one wondered if the others were staying away for fear of catching something contagious.
However, with 250m to travel, Our Secret Weapon began to lengthen strides. In the saddle, Vlad Duric urged him on and they soon began to reel in the front runner.
Fifty metres out, David's Star waved the white flag and Our Secret Weapon swept to the front to win by half a length.
A three-year-old, he has yet to face the starter. But he has been trialling like a good thing.
He just might be another one of trainer Mark Walker's secret weapons yet to be released at Kranji.
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