General Command to stay unbeaten

For sure, trainer Jason Lim’s General Command looks an exciting horse – one with a bright future.

All eyes will be on the four-year-old son of Shalaa and Skating On Ice in Saturday’s $70,000 Class 3 event over 1,200m on turf.

Can the bay gelding stay unbeaten in Singapore?

Since arriving in August 2022, the horse who raced as Hunnam in Australia for a win (over 1,200m on turf) from 10 starts, has been all-conquering.

He won both his trials and brought that form to the races, capturing both races on the Polytrack in Class 4.

For Saturday’s assignment, he was again first past the post impressively in his trial last Thursday.

He wore blinkers to spark him up, although he won both his Kranji races without.

One of the first to jump, he was held back by his regular jockey, Manoel Nunes, to sit just behind the leader Rocketship.

On straightening, he was presented a saloon passage on the inside and Nunes just gave him a little more rein and he cruised away.

It was such a convincing victory that he looks set to defy the promotion to Class 3, albeit with the 57kg top weight, the same as trainer Desmond Koh’s Moongate Star.

General Command rounded up his preparation with a fluent 600m gallop on the Polytrack on Tuesday morning in 41.3sec.

Nunes did not ask for anything. His mount has done enough already. The petrol is saved for race day.

Nunes is pleased with General Command’s condition but he is fearful of the Stephen Gray-trained Silent Is Gold (Ronnie Stewart).

“The horse is well, has a good barrier (No. 3). He trialled good last week and he is coming up in class,” said the four-time Singapore champion.

“Obviously, the horse to beat is Silent Is Gold. He finished third last time in Class 2, so I think he is our main danger. He also has a good barrier – in No. 4 – just beside us.

“But I’ll just wait and see how he will face up in Class 3. But he is going well and now is the right time to step him up to Class 3 to see what he can do. He is in good form.”

Lim, who is also happy with General Command, reckons there will be abundant speed with Silent Is Gold, War Pride and Ironchamp among the runners.

But he believes his charge should follow up with another top performance.

”It looks like an even field and my horse has won on the turf in Australia and won well at his last start, so I think he should be very competitive,“ said Lim, who is in joint-fourth with Donna Logan with seven winners on the trainers’ premiership table.

“We will leave the blinkers off on Saturday, so he’s not too keen and we’ll keep them up our sleeve for when we need them.

“It will be a really good test on Saturday. If he goes well or wins, we will definitely look at a race like the Silver Bowl.”

The first leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the $110,000 Group 3 Silver Bowl over 1,400m is on June 11.

It will be followed by the $150,000 Group 2 Stewards’ Cup over 1,600m on July 2 and the $400,000 Group 1 Singapore Derby over 1,800m on July 23.

Trainer David Kok’s Real Efecto is another sound proposition in Race 6.

The four-time winner, who competed in two Group races, is low enough in Class 4 to bounce back.