Can Circuit Mission double up?
Yulong Edition also impresses on the training track
The Class 3 race over the mile on Sunday (Race 7) will see just a field of eight runners .
But there's quality in that tight field and, yesterday morning on the training track, two of the more "popular" runners showed up in separate gallops - and they looked good.
Circuit Mission, from Lee Freedman's yard, sprinted over the 600m in 37sec while the Shane Baertschiger-trained Yulong Edition had Matthew Kellady in the pilot's seat when running the same distance in 38.1sec.
Coincidentally, both are last-start winners and they look ready to really mix it up with the likes of Wolf Warrior, Gold City and Wonderful Paint - all of whom have shown "muscle" in recent starts.
But back to the training track and Circuit Mission will want to continue from where he left off on April 5 when he was the $14 pick in that Class 3 contest over the 1,400m.
So it was, his legion of fans cheered themselves hoarse when he charged home over the final 150m to beat rank outsider and stablemate Little Big Man by a neck.
It was Circuit Mission's third outing at Kranji since arriving in September last year and, more than anything else, that win was a preview of what we can expect from him as he gets more accustomed to his new home.
Just for the record, Circuit Mission was an expensive import. A son of High Chaparral, he went under the hammer for over $700,000 as a three-year-old.
He raced as Curiosity in the UK, where he had eight starts at tracks like Newmarket and Royal Ascot. He won two races, was second on three occasions and finished third once.
Here at Kranji, his win on April 5 was even more commendable, considering he jumped from gate 12 in that 14-horse race.
Freedman's got a good one in his yard. Circuit Mission's only four years old and, with natural progression, he should go on to win bigger and better races.
Just like Circuit Mission, Yulong Edition is a four-year-old who was bred in the land of fairies and leprechauns - Ireland, that is. He, too, has had three race starts and his last outing was a gem.
It was over the mile and his rider, Kellady, sent him to the front from the get-go. The rest followed in his wake, just waiting for him to shorten strides and come back to them.
They reckoned, after all, Yulong Edition hadn't done much coming into the race. He had finished last on debut and he beat just one home in his next start just a month ago.
Surely, he would capitulate. But Yulong Edition just kept on going. The markings on the rails flashed by and the leader just kept getting stronger. He would eventually win by half a length.
That day, Baertschiger had truly turned a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Yulong Edition goes over the same trip on Sunday. Can he pull off another win?
Or will Circuit Mission continue to pay off his huge purchase prize.
Or maybe, Wonderful Paint will put right what went wrong at his last start?
Time will tell - and we don't have that long to wait.
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