Back Rocket Star, Mr Malek
The last-start winners are the top bets of the week
Their impeccable records speak volumes of their ability, so Rocket Star and Mr Malek could be hard to beat at Kranji tonight and tomorrow respectively.
From seven starts, Rocket Star has produced two wins, four seconds and a third.
Although the Ricardo Le Grange-trained three-year-old Australian-bred is meeting a few nice horses, including hat-trick winner Strong N Powerful, there is little doubt that he is a horse going places.
In both his feature attempts, Rocket Star shone, finishing second in the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe and third in the Group 3 Saas Fee Stakes. The winner in both 1,200m races was none other than Inferno, who was crowned Champion Two-Year-Old.
It is clear that Rocket Star prefers a bit of ground.
He won with a powerful burst last time out over 1,400m and the extra 200m in Race 8 tonight will be to his liking.
The good thing is he is still racing in Class 4.
Rocket Star underlined his chances with a beautiful trial victory last week.
The sparingly raced Mr Malek from the Lee Freeman yard is just as consistent.
From three starts, the three-year-old New Zealand-bred won twice after finishing third on debut.
Both his wins were super impressive on timing.
He routed a Restricted Maiden field by 43/4 lengths on Aug 11, dipping below 1min 10sec for the 1,200m with his 1min 09.66sec.
He was rested after that and resumed on Jan 26 in a Novice event over the same 1,200m trip on turf.
Again, Mr Malek showed his potential. He beat Buuraq by 13/4 lengths in 1min 09.51sec.
Winning consecutively below 1min 10sec suggests the quality of the horse.
Like Rocket Star, Mr Malek has also been lighting up the Kranji training track.
Although he did not go through a barrier jump for this preparation, he has been impressive in his gallops, the latest on Wednesday morning with race-jockey John Powell astride.
Yesterday's Kranji barrier trial results
TRIAL 1 (OFFICIAL RACE TRIAL/TEST/PRACTICE)
1 Gold Prize (R Munger) *
2 Black Taipan (M Lerner)
3 Coming Fast (S Noh) blinkers
4 Raging Brave (B Woodworth)
5 Kinabalu Warrior ORT
6 Flying Ebony (J See) ORT
7 Coloniel Star (I Saifudin)
8 Kinabalu Star ORT
Margins and time: 1¾, ½, nk, hd, 1¼, 4¼, 1 (1min 01.39sec)
TRIAL 2 (TEST/PRACTICE)
1 I Am The Star (M Kellady) 1,000m/blinkers *
2 Eddie Gray (CC Wong)
3 Mercurial Turn (L Beuzelin)
4 Don De La Vega (P Moloney)
5 Show Royale (N Zyrul)
6 Miracle (Woodworth)
7 Don't Tel Tilly
8 Without Prejudice)
Margins and time: 3¼, ½, 2, 1, 1¼, ns, ½ (1:00.94)
TRIAL 3 (PRACTICE)
1 Lim's Dream *
2 First Chief (Lerner) *
3 indus (Munger) *
4 Star Of Jupiter (Moloney)
5 Thunder (Moor)
6 Solo Sun (Noh)
Margins and time: ¾, 2½, shd, ½, 12¼ (59.92sec)
TRIAL 4 (PRACTICE)
1 Yulong Green (V Duric) *
2 Sun Princeps (CC Wong)
3 Super Pins (Woodworth)
4 Super Power (Munger)
5 Kiwi Kid (Lerner)
6 Biraz
7 Satellite Warrior (Saifudin)
Margins and time: Shd, 3½, ¾, 1, 1½, 1½, ½ (1:00.61)
TRIAL 5 (PRACTICE)
1 Stormy View (Munger) *
2 Lim's Mighty
3 El Primero
4 Enforce (N Zyrul)
5 Evil Roadster (Woodworth)
6 Hyde Park (Moloney)
7 Phidias
Margins and time: 3¾, shd, ½, ½, ½, 11¼ (1:01.88)
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