Teardrops of joy coming up
Fitzsimmons’ dead-heat winner back over winning course and distance with Duric up
Reigning champion trainer Tim Fitzsimmons’ Teardrops has been ultra-consistent this season.
From seven starts, the six-year-old Argentinian-bred mare has never finished out of the first four. Her stats read: 4-3-1-2-2-3-2.
In her only success, on April 23, she had to share the podium with Cosmic Dancer. But, with just one more stride, she would have been the outright winner.
Under jockey A’Isisuhairi Kasim, she tracked Cosmic Dancer, who kicked to a nice lead in the straight and was shouted the winner.
But A’Isisuhairi dug deep and Teardrops closed in menacingly with every stride to give her backers an adrenaline rush.
The race commentator called Cosmic Dancer the victor, but the photo finish proved otherwise: It was a dead-heat.
That was over the Polytrack 1,100m in Class 4 – the same grade, course and distance for her assignment in Race 5 on Saturday.
With the exception of having to shoulder the top weight of 58.5kg – 3.5 kg more than what she carried to victory – she ticks all the other boxes in his bid for a second triumph.
She goes into the race with a superb trial victory, has a handy barrier and will be guided by four-time Singapore champion Vlad Duric astride.
Teardrops won her trial on Sept 21 with Bruno Queiroz up but Duric has been assigned for the job.
The Australian had a good feel of his mount in a relaxing 600m spin on Tuesday morning.
The horse looked really well within himself.
From Saturday’s inside barrier – four if the four emergency acceptors fail to secure their places – he can have the option to lead or just park behind the speed.
He can then stoke his mount up in the straight and go on to give his supporters tears of joy.
Besides Teardrops, Duric has a number of other good rides.
The Shadow – the first of Michael Clements’ three final runners as a trainer in Singapore – stands out as class dropper.
His third win, on Feb 18, was in Class 4 over Saturday’s course and distance (Poly 1,200m).
He is now competing in the opener in Class 5.
Although he was unplaced in his five subsequent runs in Class 4, his last two were quite encouraging.
He did not finish far behind and the winners, Sabah Star and Asif, are fairly good horses.
The only negative on Saturday is The Shadow’s barrier – the widest of 12. But he took the Feb 18 race from gate 10.
With Duric holding the reins, there should not be much concern.
With luck, the jockey can pick up another winner or two from his six other rides – Fireworks (Race 3), Superior Coat (Race 7), Maxima (Race 8), Cash Cove (Race 10), Renzo (Race 11) and Kick (Race 12).
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