Freedman fancies Chairman’s prize
His two candidates stride out smartly on the training track
Come Saturday, jockey Patrick Moloney will be looking to land his first Singapore feature.
And the horse who could make his day could very well be Mr Clint.
Cotton-wooled since lifting the Dester Singapore Gold Cup in November, Mr Clint showed no "holiday fat" when sent out for work on the training track at Kranji yesterday morning.
If anything, you could say he's in the zone or, in "that kind of form" which could prompt his namesake, a certain Mr Clint Eastwood, from saying to his rivals: "Go ahead. Make my day."
With Moloney in the plate, Mr Clint and his Chairman's Trophy running mate Sun Marshal breezed over the 600m in an impressive 35.8sec.
Ruan Maia was on Sun Marshal.
Hats off to trainer Lee Freedman for getting both his runners looking as right as racehorses should be.
Freedman has another runner in the $400,000 feature. He's Loyalty Man.
For now though, let's look at Mr Clint.
Fresh from picking up the Champion Stayer award at last week's Racing Appreciation Night, Mr Clint could jump as favourite on Saturday - even though some may question his ability to tackle the shorter 1,600m.
After all, the Gold Cup was over the 2,000m. However, cast your mind back to May of 2018 - yes, it's been that long ago - and you'll discover that Mr Clint was all-conquering when winning the Singapore Guineas.
And that was run over the 1,600m on grass.
Distance shouldn't be an issue with this five-year-old son of Power. So, and again to pull a quote from Dirty Harry himself, "Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much."
Yes, why confuse matters. So what? It's just 400m shorter and Mr Clint should easily handle the "deficit".
As for Sun Marshal, he put in a solid show when third to Horse Of The Year I'm Incredible in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup run in November.
But his name was in lights much earlier in July. That was when he grabbed the Singapore Derby beating - who else, but - Mr Clint in a tight finish.
That was over the 1,800m. So, he too shouldn't be too concerned about his ability to win over the mile.
Are we looking at a Freedman quinella? Well, it's happened before in a big race. Don't bet against it happening in the Chairman's Trophy.
Freedman has another good one in Saturday's undercard. He's You Rokk and he too put in a winning workout yesterday morning.
Ridden by apprentice jockey R Iskandar, the six-year-old covered the 600m in 37.2sec.
Saturday will see him run his fourth race at Kranji where he has already picked up a winner's cheque for that romp home in early November.
You Rokk is well schooled, having raced 19 times in Australia for five wins and a clutchful of placings.
Treat him with utmost respect.
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