Churchill looks dominant

Churchill, who is down to race in Sunday's $100,000 sprint, was put through his paces at the trials yesterday morning and he covered himself with glory.

He won the 1,000m hit-out with some authority.

Ridden by apprentice Krisna Thangamani, he stalked the pace set by I Am Sacred and Radiant Success.

The trio were lengths ahead when the nine runners fanned out for that run home and, from then on, they had the trial to themselves.

In that final flourish to the finish, Churchill seemed to have more intent.

He went on to beat I Am Sacred - the mount of former jockey and trainer Saimee Jumaat - by a neck. Radiant Success (Ruan Maia) held on for third, a short head away.

Just Landed, the mount of new apprentice Jerlyn Seow, was doing his best work over the concluding stages. He finished full of running for fourth.

But it was all about Churchill.

A winner early last month, when beating a Class 3 field over the 1,200m on the Polytrack, Churchill will have just 52kg on his back on Sunday and the 1,400m trip should not pose a problem.

Incidentally, Churchill's win at the trials denied Mark Walker of a Tuesday morning clean sweep.

Walker saddled the winners of three of the four trials - Elliot Ness, Stenmark and Happy Friday.

I Am Sacred, who was second behind the Ricardo Le Grange-trained Churchill, was also from Walker's barn.

Walker got going in the opening trial of the morning when Elliot Ness lived up to his name, proving to be an "untouchable" when winning in 61.25sec.

Formerly racing as Prohibition in Australia, he had two trials at Randwick racecourse in New South Wales before being shipped out here by the China Horse Club group to continue his racing.

At the trials, Elliot Ness - a three-year-old son of Written Tycoon - was always well up with the pace set by Con Speranza.

Travelling at a steady clip, he took the lead at the 200m mark. Scrubbed along by Saimee, he ran home a half-length winner.

Kwoi Hoi, from trainer Cliff Brown's yard and ridden by Oscar Chavez, came home with a good run wide out to claim third spot.

Both Elliot Ness and Kwoi Hoi ticked all the boxes and bear watching when they begin their Kranji careers.

TRIAL 1 (ORT)

1 Elliot Ness

2 Kwoi Hoi

3 Lim's Betterready (CS Chin)

4 Unbridled Sweep (R Maia)

5 Con Speranza (M Zaki)

6 Cassius (K Hakim)

Margins and time: ½, 1¼, hd,¾, ½ (1min 1.25sec)

TRIAL 2

1 Stenmark (CK Ng)

2 Mighty Vain (Maia)

3 Shine Almighty (M Lerner)

4 Star Bullet (S John)

5 Speedy Missile (Hakim)

6 Evil Roadster

7 Avocado (Rehaizat)

Margins and time: ½, 5, 1¼, 8¼, 3¼ (1:01.25)

TRIAL 3

1 Churchill (T Krisna)

2 I Am Sacred

3 Radiant Success (Maia)

4 Just Landed

5 You Qian Zhuan

6 Lim's Zoom

7 Biraz (Chin)

8 Solar Eclipse (CC Wong)

9 Lim's Samurai (T Rehaizat)

Margins and time: Nk, shd, 1¾, 1¼, 6¼, (1:00.04)

TRIAL 4

1 Happy Friday (B Woodworth)

2 Marcus Antonius

3 Don't Tell Tilly (I Azhar)

4 Lai Mak Mak

5 Qilin Top Form (Chin)

6 Black Quail (Hakim)

Margins and time: 1, 1½, ½, 3¼, 7¼ (1:01.87)