Plenty of swagger in Silver Bowl
Aramaayo and Top Knight feature as top workers
I'll say this. It is shaping up to be a race not to be missed. The Silver Bowl, that is.
Run over the 1,400m on Saturday and carrying a prize purse of $175,000, it features some of Kranji's top young sprinters. None more so that last-start winner Aramaayo and newly crowned Champion Three-Year-Old, Top Knight.
And yesterday - and as if it were a sneak preview - both horses were put through their paces on the training track and both looked in mint condition.
Aramaayo had Patrick Moloney in the irons when he zipped over the 600m in 36.7sec. He had Flak Jacket - who is not entered for the meeting - as a galloping companion.
Trained by Shane Baertschiger, Aramaayo became a success story at his last start - his third Kranji outing.
Coming off a 21/2-month break, he broke a few hearts when he consigned the much-respected $7 favourite, Top Knight, to second spot in the RDA Cup - which was also over the 1,400m.
That was earlier this month. Right from the get-go, Simon Kok placed Aramaayo in a perfect spot right behind the pace while Vlad Duric had Top Knight wallowing near the rear.
With 250m to go, Aramaayo swept to the front. At the same time, Top Knight fashioned a run wide out and they crossed the line glued together. The judges called for a print and it confirmed that the apprentice had beaten the master.
Aramaayo was a winner of two races in Australia before being flown here. He arrived in July and the rest is history.
Now that he has put a win on the board, expect more from this son of Poet's Voice.
As for Top Knight, his work on the training track yesterday was pitch-perfect. Partnered by apprentice jockey S Shafrizal, he covered the trip in 37.3sec.
As a footnote, he had Yabadabadoo for company and, if you have a notebook and pen handy, scribble in that name as a horse to follow the next time he goes to the races - which, unfortunately, will not be this weekend.
But back to Top Knight and, really, what more is there to say about the sprinter who, in 12 starts at Kranji has banked in almost $1 million for the Falcon Racing No. 7 Stable.
Trained by Michael Clements, he was a winner of four races last season and he owns the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic(1,400m) and the Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1,600m).
It was around this time last season when Top Knight began to flex his muscles and we're approaching that time of the year. Watch for the swagger when he walks out for the Silver Bowl.
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