Blue Blood looks red hot
Baertschiger's runners top the training time sheets
If he keeps on running and winning races like he has been doing, he could soon live up to his name and join the ranks of Kranji royalty.
Why not? He has got Blue Blood running through his veins and, in Race 6 on Sunday, he will have his loyal subjects in line at tote windows, betting on him adding another jewel to his crown.
Blue Blood was one of many from Shane Baertschiger's yard who scorched the training track yesterday morning. We reckoned he was most impressive. With Matthew Kellady on the reins, Blue Blood ran 600m in 36.2sec.
With two wins over 1,000m and 1,400m and two seconds from just four starts, he is on an upward trajectory. Indeed, and while he will be tested over the mile, he should be able see out the extra distance.
It was just yesterday that we pointed you in the direction of the Lee Freedman-trained galloper, You Rokk.
We said he was a "good thing". But Baertschiger and Powell might think otherwise. They will reckon Excelling can run his rivals - You Rokk, included - to the ground.
They could be right. Until recently with Freedman, Excelling was one of Baertschiger's star performers on the training track. With Powell up, the five-time winner covered 600m in a neat 37.5sec.
A winner of the Merlion Trophy in August while still with Freedman, he will be having his first race start under Baertschiger, who has since trained him to win two 1,000m trials.
He won that first one in a blistering 58.94sec and the second in 59.17sec.
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