Back Lim's Craft, Yaya Papaya
Duo in good form and make the best bets at Kranji tonight and tomorrow respectively
Lim's Craft, the headline act at trackwork on Tuesday, is worth the wait in the last race at Kranji tonight.
Then tomorrow, Yaya Papaya looks the star bet - also on his recent form.
The two horses have been impressive on the training track and have lined up in winnable races.
Let's start with Lim's Craft.
The Steven Burridge-trained three-year-old has proven to be consistent. From three starts, he has notched a win, a second and a third.
Owned by Lim's Stable, the brown Australian-bred gelding showed promise first-up on March 1, beating all but Galvarino over 1,200m on turf.
He lost by a mere head and, mind you, he was checked in the race and the winner cracked 1min 10sec, clocking 1min 09.92sec. It was certainly a top-class effort coming from Restricted Maiden runners.
With that eye-opening run, Lim's Craft was punched to $8 favouritism next start. But he was probably a victim of the second-run syndrome, finishing third to Golden Years over the same track and trip.
Or was it because he was drawn very wide and caught wide in the race?
In any case, Lim's Craft made no mistake third-up on April 7, beating Hugo over the similar track and trip in 1: 10.82.
He has improved further, as evidenced in his trackwork, and he has been freshened up for tonight's Class 4 assignment over the Polytrack 1,100m. He should handle the alternate surface. He is drawn nicely in gate 2.
Trained by Leslie Lhoo for Sweet Stable, Yaya Papaya has been consistent this campaign, with three seconds and a third from six starts.
In fact, one of his seconds was a demotion. The four-year-old New Zealand-bred had, on Feb 17, finished first past the post by a neck in a 1,600m race on turf.
But the rider of Lucky Hada, second past the post, was successful in his protest for inteference. The placings were reversed.
Then, last time out on May 10, Yaya Papaya moved up from worse than midfield to stake his claim in another 1,600m turf race. He opened up when he saw daylight but found Dreamer Legend a shade better on the day.
He ended up second by a length and the winner's time, 1:34.88, was good.
Form is one thing, but there are other favourable factors to like about Yaya Papaya.
One, the horse is back on the Poly. All his three wins were on this surface.
Two, he is drawn in gate 1 and should enjoy an economical run to the post on the inside.
Three, his connections have engaged the apprentice of the moment, AB Riduan. The 4kg claimer has shown he could ride and has churned in winners with clockwork regularity.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
