Lord's Command loud and clear

Stepping out at the short odds of $7 for a win on Sunday, debutant Lord’s Command looked to be something really good.

Just like recent runaway debut winner Last Supper, he had displayed that “wow factor” in both his trials at Kranji.

The first, on Aug 1, saw Lord’s Command blitz his five rivals by five lengths in 59.99sec for the Polytrack 1,000m.

He had raced three wide and was kept on a tight hold throughout.

Then, on Aug 17, the four-year-old by Shalaa again travelled wide under a stranglehold by the same jockey, Manoel Nunes.

He was checked at the top of the straight, yet finished second by a length behind Pacific Chief, who clocked 1min 00.54sec.

Those who saw that trial knew that Lord’s Command could easily have won had Nunes wanted to.

On his Australian record, the handsome bay-brown gelding also showed ability, although he did not win from 12 starts.

However, he had six seconds and a third under the name of Shalatin.

The signs were all there – Lord’s Command was the horse to beat in the $20,000 Open Maiden event over 1,200m. The Richard Lim-trained, and Lordship Stable-owned, galloper not only ran like a raging favourite should, but he also annihilated his rivals.

Driven to the front by Nunes after a brilliant jump, he was hunted by trainer Mahadi Taib’s two-time trial winner Legend Of Niagara (Krisna Thangamani) and Golden Way (Vlad Duric).

Legend Of Niagara went up to eyeball Lord’s Command at one stage but, turning for home, the latter skipped ahead.

From the 300m, he opened up in style, making his rivals look like they were standing still. At the post, he won by six lengths.

The beauty of it was Nunes had stopped riding from the 100m. Yet, Lord’s Command clocked 1:09.75 – 0.01sec faster than The Big Easy’s class record set in November, 2018.

Even Lim was stumped by Lord’s Command demolition job.

“We know he’s a good horse but we didn’t expect him to be that good. Very surprised with the way he hit the line on Sunday,” said the former champion jockey-turned-trainer.

“He showed us he has got a lot of potential from day one. He showed he has something inside him, so we tested him on Sunday and we got a good answer.

“We’ll take it slowly, we’ll stick to Class 4 first. I’m not sure whether to go to Novice, because he will carry a lot of weight. Class 4 can be a bit easier with a lighter weight.

“The good thing is, he pulled up good after the race. But, definitely, we’ll go for the Four-Year-Old series next year.”

Nunes initially felt Lord’s Command was promising but “not that good yet”. But the Brazilian is now convinced the horse has a future.

“Yeah, he won easy but that race was not that strong,” he said.

“I didn’t really think much higher about him but, yeah, he’s a nice horse. He still has got a lot to improve, so I really like him. He’ll win more races in Singapore, for sure.”

On Super Salute’s fifth in Sunday’s $300,000 Group 1 Lion City Cup (1,200m), Lim thought the way he ran was “very disappointing”.

“We expected him to run better than that, maybe the blinkers didn’t help him. I think we might give him a short break and bring him back again,” he said.

He is unsure if Super Salute will head for the $300,000 Group 1 Raffles Cup (1,600m) on Sept 23.

“Not sure whether we’re going for the Raffles Cup. We’ll see how he pulls up,” he said.

“It was our plan earlier on but, after Sunday’s run, I need to think twice before I take one step forward.”