Koh's duo will again eyeball each other

Trainer Desmond Koh's two "black type" winners GURU- GURU and ORDER OF THE SUN are back into the fray tomorrow and will both saddle up in the same race again.

The pair last ran in the New Year Cup with contrasting results.

Guru-Guru came with a searching run to claim the Polytrack 1,900m feature race while Order Of The Sun, the 2015 Colonial Chief Stakes co-winner (dead-heated with Best Tothelign), floundered to run 10th more than eight lengths astern.

Koh has since tipped out both New Year Cup winner and loser, skipping the next middle-distance feature, the Fortune Bowl in favour of tomorrow's Open Handicap over 2,000m.

On Tuesday, Order Of The Sun came out for a barrier trial under race-jockey Wong Chin Chuen to score in a style which was at odds with his customary go-forward pattern.

Taking the drop on Alwin Tan's leading pair of Nova Swiss (Olivier Placais) and Nova Warrior (Shafiq Rizuan), the Encosta De Lago six-year-old drew on level terms in the straight before sticking his neck out to take out the trial.

Koh said the different sit-and-wait tactic was an attempt to think out of the box for the Macau-owned galloper.

"We are trying not to be too one-dimensional with Order Of The Sun. It seemed to suit him at the trials," said Koh.

"He is known as a bold frontrunner, but I think he can also take a sit.

"It's a small field, though, but the idea is to change his racing pattern.

"The distance suits him as well but that doesn't mean he will win tomorrow. I've given him a break along with Guru-Guru after the New Year Cup. I don't have any plans with Order Of The Sun, just potter around with him."

Koh said that Guru-Guru had done nothing wrong since his last start, but just like for Order Of The Sun, he is not getting too ahead of himself with the Faltaat four-year-old.

"I didn't run him in the Fortune Bowl as I felt he wasn't fit enough. He's had a nice break and I still feel he's not 100 per cent fit," he said.

"He's not a horse with a big constitution and you have to space his runs. He had a quiet barrier trial last Thursday and I was happy enough with that."

Guru-Guru will again have Malaysian veteran jockey Azhar Ismail in the saddle. The Malaysian multiple-champion jockey is probably a bit of a "guru" on the Tan Huat-owned galloper himself as he has now partnered him to three of his four wins.

"One good thing about this horse is he can maintain his form even after he hasn't raced for a while," said Azhar.

"He's working okay. We gave him a quiet trial last week. He's a horse who has to be near the leader. In the New Year Cup, he was running in a pretty big field and that's why I had to go wide down the back.

"It will be nice if the track is yielding tomorrow. He runs better on such ground. Desmond has done a great job with him. We can only hope for some luck in his race now."