It may be double joy for Peters

James Peters is a quiet achiever. With his not too flashy stable of horses, he has still been knocking home those winners.

Indeed, after just 10 meetings into the new season, he has six winners to show – and that is mighty respectable.

The Englishman will have 10 runners in action on March 17, and notable among them appear to be Star North and Rubik Kid.

The pair were out for a spot of trackwork on the morning of March 13 and both looked in good shape.

Star North had Benny Wodworth doing the steering when he ran out the 600m in a breezy 41.3sec. No speed records were broken there but there was intent in that workout and Peters would have been pleased.

As for Rubik Kid, he went fast, clapping on the pace to cover the trip in 39.7.

Back to Star North, the four-year-old by Savabeel has been paying for his keep regularly at Peters’ yard.

Having failed just twice to make the board in all of his seven Kranji race starts, he broke through for his first win on Dec 9.

Then, and after one of those two unplaced outings when he finished down the course in a race won by Aniki on Dec 30, he quickly brushed it aside to put his second win on record.

That was as recent as Feb 3 and that win over the 1,400m was something to savour.

Ridden by Iskandar Rosman, Star North jumped cleanly and quickly slotted in behind the leaders Eruption and Shihab.

There he stayed until the furlong mark, where Iskandar spurred him into action.

Like a good horse, he responded and drew away to win by 2½ lengths.

Peters then sent him to the barrier trials.

That was on March 7 and, in a similar sort of way, he won that hit-out by a similar margin.

A dogged racer, Star North will have his work cut out for him in Race 10 on March 17.

It is a race packed with talent but Peters has him in a good place right now and we should see him in the mix.

As for Rubik Kid, he is still looking for that breakthrough – which should come sooner rather than later.

In his defence, he has only raced six times and his showings at his last three races were all good efforts.

He had to settle for third in Open Maiden events on Jan 14 and Feb 3. When carrying stable confidence in yet another Open Maiden event on Feb 17, he had to play bridesmaid when collared, and then headed, by Auspicious King.

Like he did with Star North, Peters sent Rubik Kid to the trials on March 7 and Rubik Kid stretched out like a good horse, leading from go to whoa.

If anything, that hit-out would have topped him up sufficiently for the assignment coming up.

It is the fifth race on the 11-race card and, although Rubik Kid will have to carry a load of 59kg – made lighter by apprentice Jamil Sarwi’s 3kg claim – he should give a good account of himself.

Keep an eye also on Fire. He, too, worked well on March 13 when running the 600m in 42.1 – unextended.

The Tim Fitzsimmons-trained Fire needed all the skills of visiting English jockey Chad Schofield to get him home at his 11th start.

That was on Feb 11 and it made up for the agony of defeat on Jan 27 when Fire came so close, only to lose out by a short head to October.

Still a three-year-old, Fire seems to be another “hot” prospect for Fitzsimmons, and one who should win more races for the Buffalo Stable.

Watch him sizzle in Race 8 on March 17.

brian@sph.com.sg