Mokastar fit and fresh to kick-start his new campaign
Sunday Singapore best bet
Last-start winner Mokastar has what it takes to shine again in his first race of the 2018 Singapore racing season.
Firstly, he has proven to be a genuine thoroughbred with his consistency.
Secondly, he comes into Sunday's Race 7 with an impressive trial victory last week.
What was likeable in that trial was that when a couple of horses loomed up to challenge him, he responded with only a few shakes of the reins by his rider to get the verdict.
It's always nice to see a responsive horse than one that is one-paced.
His gallop on Wednesday was also top rate, striding out faultlessly with race-jockey Nooresh Juglall astride. He pulled up fresh as a daisy.
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange has found a winnable race for his three-year-old Australian-bred by Poet's Voice - a moderate Class 3 event over the flying 1,000m on the Polytrack.
Mokastar's chances have been enhanced with a nice barrier to blend with his speed - No. 7, but will jump out from No. 5 if the two emergency acceptors drawn on his inside did not secure their places.
Now, let's take a look at his CV - nine starts so far and finished out of the first three only once.
Well, ain't that impressive?
His only unplaced run was in the $325,000 Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe over 1,200m in July last year, which was his fourth start. He was second, second and third in his first three outings respectively.
He turned the corner after the Aushorse Golden Horseshoe outing, winning his next start by almost four lengths over the Poly 1,000m. His winning time of 59.39sec was quite good.
This was followed by another two seconds and a third before he scored again at his last start on Nov 24.
In that Class 4 Div 2 race over the Poly 1,100m, the light-framed but big-hearted bay gelding bounced away to beat Shaqraa by two-and-a-quarter lengths. Again, he clocked a fairly smart time, 1min 05.41sec.
Now that he is fit and fresh from the short break, Mokastar looks all set to blaze the trail again on Sunday.
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