Mark Tennet Tentennet for a tenner
Eye-catching second at first run from spell puts Khoo’s charge in good stead for a win
Tennet Tentennet would not have lost many admirers from the way he charged home for second place to Smart Star on July 7.
Plenty of merit can be derived from that storming run, but resuming from a three-month layoff while tackling first-up the metric mile of the Class 4 race (1,600m) would have to be the main highlight.
Still last at the half-mile, the Telperion four-year-old looked a little out of his ground upon straightening.
Under champion jockey Manoel Nunes, Smart Star was on a tear up front, while Tennet Tentennet had taken closer order but still had around five lengths to make up.
With Bruno Queiroz pulling out all the stops, the Leslie Khoo-trained chestnut bravely cut down the margin to eventually come up short by only three parts of a length in what would turn out to be a reference race to a rematch for five of them four weeks later.
Following that run under the belt, Tennet Tentennet should strip fitter for that next assignment in a similar $50,000 Class 4 (1,600m) contest on Aug 4.
Barrier No. 1 can be either a boon or bane, especially in a small seven-horse field.
But, with on-pace sorts like Green Star, Mesmerizing, Lim’s Puncak Jaya and even the occasional pace-setter Roda Robot in the mix, he should get an abundance of speed as well as a traffic-free run to the line.
The three-time winner, all on Polytrack, will relish the course and distance. He seems to have also benefited from the little four-week freshen-up, not to mention that Queiroz will have a better idea when to push the button at his second pairing.
From barrier No. 2, Mesmerizing may be the one to kick up on the inside and hold the rails lead.
While he has not been able to keep it together to the line in recent outings, the typical Argentinian-bred that he is seems to grow another leg on the all-weather.
At one stage, he looked like he could make all in that Smart Star reference race, but he wilted late to settle for third place.
He may not be a model of consistency but, if he can get a breather mid-race, he could again prove hard to get past in the last 200m.
On the other hand, Free And Happy was well beaten in that mile race won by Smart Star. But he has since partly redeemed himself with two better runs for leading trainer Jason Ong, including a second to Super Baby in a Class 4 1,700m race on July 13.
He is also on the quick back-up following his fourth place to the promising Boardroom in a similar contest on July 28.
Green Star is getting long in the tooth but, at 11, he is still very competitive at this level.
He was even being hailed the winner when he hit the front in that July 7 race, but could not quite finish off the job when Smart Star zipped past.
There is every chance he will be thereabouts again when the whips are cracking, but a minor placing is a more realistic outcome for him.
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