It could be seven wins for 'The Count' or 'The Cruiser'
Top fancies in the Jumbo Jet Trophy race strut their stuff on training track
On a busy morning at Kranji, with clockers at trackside swamped by gallopers emerging from the mist, it was the mighty COUNTOFMONTECRISTO who got the nods with an eye-catching workout on the training track.
Running the 600m as if in contempt of the clock, the multiple winner covered the distance in a blistering 34.80sec.
If anything, it was a terrifying message to his rivals in Sunday's Jumbo Jet Trophy - and here we're talking about a stellar line-up of young phenoms and accomplished "veterans" with tons of good racing years left in them.
In his last start, "The Count" left the opposition stranded in no-man's land when coming off the box seat to win by a length and a half - easing up.
That day, he had his regular rider Glen Boss in the saddle but, as we all know, Boss will be away in Australia attending a friend's wedding and his seat will be taken over by the Englishman Alan Munro.
Countofmontecristo has been a revelation since making his Kranji debut in mid-January.
Sparingly-raced, his record has been impeccable.
Six starts. Five wins in a row before having his sequence broken in the Singapore Guineas which was won in tearaway fashion by Forever Young.
His trainer Michael Clements then decided to give his charge a well-deserved three-month break and Countofmontecristo came back with vengeance on his mind. Needless to say, his rivals were blown away.
That was over the 1,200m. Sunday's added distance of 200m shouldn't bother him. After all, it was over the 1,400m that he beat them all in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic.
However, and as his connections will surely know, victory won't come on a platter.
It's a star-studded field on Sunday. There's War Affair who won his trial in super fashion yesterday and there that other money-spinner in LIM'S CRUISER.
From trainer Stephen Gray's yard, the five-year-old has been without a win since April. But don't hold it against him.
He is still a danger to all who oppose him. And, yesterday, he tossed the gauntlet at his illustrious opponents in the Jumbo Jet Trophy with a stylish hit-out.
Ridden by leading hoop, Vlad Duric, Lim's Cruiser covered the distance in 38sec.
For one who has won six races from 12 starts and who seldom runs a bad race, it was a sign that the two-time winner over the "Trophy" trip was ready for the task.
Indeed, come Sunday, he will be one of three - the others being War Affair and "The Count" - that the racing public will accord the compliment that is usually reserved for really good horses - even legends.
They will back them down to unbettable odds.
And it would be fitting.
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