Lightweight Be Bee set to sting
On handicap, the 4YO looks the best of trainer Baertschiger's trio in Friday's Class 1 race over 1,200m
He's still a four-year-old, but to Kranji racegoers, he's a veteran. A horse they seem to have known for a long time.
You cannot blame them.
After all, Be Bee has won races in 2017 and 2018. That's five races in all - and today he looks as fresh as a two-year-old prancing in a paddock.
Yes, we haven't seen the best of Be Bee. He's the unfinished product and, with form on his side and just 50kg to carry, he could win his first race of 2019 when he tackles a Class 1 field over the 1,200m on Friday.
The youngster from Shane Baertschiger's yard was all zip on the training track yesterday morning when, with Matthew Kellady doing the steering, he ran the 600m in 37.2sec.
He had stablemate Faaltless for company.
Already an eight-year-old, Faaltless is down to contest the same race on Friday and, with Nepean also listed as a potential starter, Baertschiger has got a terrific trifecta to challenge the likes of Maximus and Affleck in what is shaping up to be an exciting race.
Back to Be Bee, his last win was in mid-September. That day, he easily beat a more than competent field of sprinters in a Kranji Stakes A race over the 1,200m. Ridden by Kellady, he powered home like a speedboat to beat the very-respected Rafaello by almost 21/2 lengths.
He had two unplaced runs in November before taking a short break until the new year.
Before turning up for yesterday's workout on the training track, Be Bee was sent to the trials. That was just last week.
Taking on seven others, he ran out a good winner, beating Bengal Lancer while running the 1,000m in 60.91sec. Powell was in the saddle.
Yesterday, Powell was the man doing the steering on Faaltless and the eight-year-old went as well as his younger stablemate.
Having begun his Kranji racing career in 2013, Faaltless is into his sixth year of racing - and he has never once missed out on paying for his board and lodging. So far, he's won a total of eight races for over $600,000 in prize money.
After a quiet 2018, when he raced just three times, Faaltless will be having his first start for 2019. He's one of Baertschiger's trio in that high-class sprint and it'll be interesting to see what the old fella can do.
On Sunday, Lee Freedman holds the aces in the Class 3 sprint over the 1,200m. Of his trio, we saw Nationality turn on the style in his workout yesterday morning.
Taken out by Ben Thompson, he ran the trip in a sizzling 35.8sec, serving notice to his Sunday rivals that he could be the one they might all have to beat.
Another one of those expensive imports by China Horse Club, he went under the hammer at $300,000 as a yearling. Nationality began paying for his keep almost immediately with a win in just his second of five starts. Sent off as an easing $13 favourite, he took over the running a long way from home and never gave the others a look in.
He was the punters' pick in his next three starts but the closest he came to winning was when he ran second to Whistling Win in late November.
He's set for a fine 2019 and that fourth-placing behind Time Lord recently could have been a signal of better things to come.
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