Obey General Command again

After ticking the boxes in both his trial and final gallop, the ultra-consistent General Command is set to score his fifth victory from eight Kranji starts on Sunday – in the Class 2 race over 1,100m.

Furthermore, the five-year-old by Shalaa will be back on his pet Polytrack surface after his last-start third on turf.

All his four successes – two each over 1,100m and 1,200m – were on the synthetic track.

He also finished second behind The August over 1,200m on the same surface at his penultimate start on June 24.

It was in a strong Class 1 affair.

For the record, his conqueror went on to finish a gallant third behind Kharisma in the Group 3 Rocket Man Sprint (1,200m) last Sunday.

General Command has had two starts on turf and he did well, too.

He finished second and third, both over 1,200m. The third placing was in his last start on July 8, also in the top class.

In all his seven starts, champion jockey Manoel Nunes was the pilot.

The hotshot rider was aboard when General Command ran a terrific second behind Illustrious in his Poly 1,000m trial on Aug 3.

He went down by just a head in the fast-run heat (58.71sec).

It must be noted that, while Illustrious was pushed by Bruno Queiroz, General Command was untaxed.

Nunes just let his mount travel under his own steam. He could have won easily, if he had wanted to.

The two horses will cross swords again on Sunday, but General Command is obviously the far superior horse.

Then, on Wednesday morning, Nunes put General Command through his winding-up gallop for Sunday’s race.

Again, his mount impressed.

Starting rather slowly, Nunes clicked up a little in the straight and General Command lifted his head and lengthened strides.

He covered the 600m in 41.8.

“He did work well, just easy on himself. I’m happy with him,” said Nunes.

“And, yes, I think he is a better horse on the Poly than grass – and the 1,100m is his best distance.”

Trainer Richard Lim, who took over General Command from Jason Lim after the latter was disqualified for 18 months over the positive swab on winner Takhi, said the trackwork report was good.

“Nunes was happy with his gallop this morning, just hope we have a good draw,” said the former champion jockey.

“Silent Is Gold also trialled very well. He is one of the dangers.”

Lim conceded that he has not had General Command for long to understand him yet. But he was happy with how the horse handled the work so far.

“He gave me the impression that he has maintained his form. Obviously, his wins have all been on the Polytrack, so that gives me confidence, too,” he said.

“He has shown that he can win in Class 2, with an almost similar weight, and Nunes knows him better than anyone else.

“His trial the other day was very good. He pulled up well – ate everything back at the stables – so it’s all systems go.”