Hard to take the sting out of Be Bee
Auric's two-from-two star shows further improvement on the Kranji training track
Auric Stable's exciting find BE BEE yesterday morning left a big impression that he will be hard to beat in Sunday's $200,000 Group 3 Juvenile Championship with a resounding hit-out at Kranji.
Paced by 2015 Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes co-winner BEST TOTHELIGN (dead-heated with Order Of The Sun), Be Bee strode out boldly and under a good hold by jockey John Powell over 600m on the Polytrack in 37.8sec.
The bay New Zealand-bred gelding appeared not having spent a penny after the workout. He was still fresh as a daisy as he walked back to the tunnel en route to his stable.
Be Bee is unbeaten in both starts.
In his debut on June 26, he justifed $11 favouritism but his win was deemed as just average, completing the 1,100m on the Polytrack in 1min 05.22sec.
He appeared to be tiring towards the business-end of the race and was lucky to stave off the fast-finishing Augustano.
With the hard run, few gave him any chance to back up within 11 days in a Group 2 feature -the $325,000 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe over 1,200m - which was reflected on his $106 win tote.
But Be Bee surprisingly showed tremendous improvement from his debut outing and defied all odds with a stronger than expected one-and-three-quarter-length victory.
The manner he made mincemeat of a strong field was mesmerising, indeed.
Powell and trainer Shane Baertschiger heaped accolades on the horse after the win and Powell also gave the assurance that Be Bee should be suited by Sunday's Juvenile Championship trip of 1,400m.
As the field consists of most of the Aushorse Golden Horseshoe runners, it looks like it will be win No. 3 from start No. 3 for Be Bee, who, after all, has made big improvement again.
Trainer James Peters' MR HANKS was all the rage in the Aushorse Golden Horseshoe following his impressive debut victory but he was never in the hunt. He finished 10th in the capacity 16-horse field.
Yesterday, the Oscar Racing Stable-owned galloper showed he could recoup the losses by showing up nicely in his gallop.
Ridden by leading jockey Vlad Duric, he ran steadily over 600m in 41.8sec and, like Be Bee, was never asked to spend a penny.
As he was probably a victim of the second-run syndrome, he may rise to the occasion on Sunday.
Peters will apply blinkers for his charge and he hopes the real Mr Hanks will show up.
The baby-faced Englishman said Mr Hanks pulled up well after his last-start defeat, is fit and the 1,400m will suit the horse.
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