Kassab worth the wait
Clements-trained last-start runner-up set to go one better in the last of 12 races at Kranji
With the benefit of his last-start second placing, Kassab is set to greet the judge again.
Owned by Al-Arabiya Stable, whose Ghalib made a stylish winning debut last Sunday, Kassab is sparingly raced but has proven to be an honest thoroughbred.
From only 12 starts in about 2½ years of racing, the Michael Clements-trained chestnut English-bred gelding has had three wins, three seconds and two thirds.
He has earned his keep, winning $103,252 in prize money.
More should be added into his bank account come Sunday in the last of 12 races at Kranji.
The six-year-old is the horse to beat in the $50,000 Class 4 event over the Polytrack 1,000m.
His last-start second to Lim’s Denali over the same course and distance in the same grade was a top run.
Ridden by champion jockey Manoel Nunes and carrying 59kg – the same weight as Sunday – he chased the leaders on the inside from the get-go.
He hit the front 200m out and looked headed for his fourth success. But he found no answer to Lim’s Denali’s blistering finish.
The winner, ridden by apprentice Rozlan Nazam, carried 11kg less. That was Kassab’s first outing after a four-month spell.
He will surely strip fitter with the run under his belt.
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