Top Knight for the Silver Bowl
He has been champion Duric's horse from Day 1
After two runner-up spots since resuming from a break, Top Knight is set to clinch tomorrow's $175,000 Group 3 Silver Bowl over 1,400m.
Although champion jockey Vlad Duric had ridden stablemate Bold Thruster to capture the Group 3 Fortune Bowl over the same 1,400m last time out out Jan 26, his heart has been with Top Knight all along.
The Australian partnered Top Knight to victory in the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic over 1,400m and the Group 1 Singapore Guineas over 1,600m.
The two successes - which made up the last two legs of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge - landed champion owner, Falcon Racing No. 7 Stable, the Champion Three-Year-Old award.
Top Knight was narrowly beaten by Bold Thruster in the first leg - the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint over 1,200m.
To Duric, Top Knight was always the clear pick from the day he got on at the horse's first race as a three-year-old last year.
"Top Knight has always been my horse," he said.
"I've never won the Derby probably because I've not been on the right horse. The closest I came to was a fourth on Jabal Tarik (to Jolie's Shinju) in 2009 and then a second on Elite Invincible to Jupiter Gold in 2018.
"Top Knight is probably my best chance throughout the whole 4YO series.
"He didn't like the wet track at the handicap at his last start (nose second to Aramaayo in the RDA Cup, a Class 2 race over 1,400m). It made it more difficult for him.
"He will be at set weights against four-year-olds this time. The 1,400m is still on the sharp side as I think he's more of a 1,600m to 1,800m horse.
"The Singapore Derby (over 1,800m on April 18) is his grand final, but I think he'll still be very hard to beat in all three legs. He is the benchmark.
"He's, however, a horse who doesn't put himself in a race. You can't rush him to get into his rhythm, you need a bit of luck.
"On the other hand, providing Bold Thruster jumps out of the barriers, he will be up on the speed, he puts himself in a race."
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