Eruption warning at Kranji
Promising three-year-old all set to avenge his debut defeat with vast improvement
Like Anak Krakatau, the famous active volcano in Indonesia, there is literally a different kind ash spewing north of Singapore.
At Kranji, to be precise. An eruption looks imminent on Saturday.
Well, the talk is about Eruption, the horse.
Buffalo Stable’s promising three-year-old is expected to explode at 12.30pm on the racecourse.
And it will strike fear into his 13 rivals in the $75,000 Restricted Maiden event over 1,200m on turf in Race 2.
Trained by reigning Singapore champion Tim Fitzsimmons, Eruption showed promise first-up.
That was in a similar Restricted Maiden race on Aug 20, when the son of Xtravagant nearly made a dream debut.
Ridden by Bruno Queiroz, he powered home from midfield to beat all but fellow newcomer Hasten. The margin was just a neck.
Hasten, trained by Steven Burridge, went on to finish a nice third last Saturday – behind exciting two-from-two winner Ghalib.
That form augurs well for Eruption, as the bay gelding has improved by leaps and bounds.
His trial victory on Sept 12 was superb. He sat in midfield, on the bridle, for most of the way.
And when Queiroz shook his reins a few times at the 200m, Eruption lengthened strides beautifully to win.
He clocked a respectable 1min 00.48sec for the Polytrack 1,000m.
Then, in his final gallop on Tuesday, he again displayed zest in his 40.1sec hit-out for 600m. He pulled up on his toes.
He is now spot-on. With luck, he should go one better on Saturday.
Fitzsimmons, who is four winners behind Jason Ong in the trainers’ log, can close in with a slew of chances.
My other top picks from his strong team are value bet Lucky Hero (Race 3), Creative Dreams (Race 5), Lightning Strike (Race 7) and King Of Sixty-One (Race 9).
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