Mr Clint looks nice and relaxed
Kranji trackwork
Mr Clint, the Oscar Racing Stable-owned galloper who gave Australian Hall of Fame trainer Lee Freedman his first Singapore winner as a Malayan Racing Association-licensed trainer, is set to score again on his nice hit-out at Kranji yesterday morning.
Taken out by three-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Glen Boss, the three-year-old New Zealand-bred looked eager to go when warming up in the first lap on the Polytrack but Boss managed to keep him relaxed in his second round to cover the final 600m in 40.5sec.
The bay gelding travelled nicely all the way and pulled up without raising a sweat.
He was accompanied by stablemate Casey, who clocked a tad faster in 39.9sec under jockey Alan Munro.
There was a lot of coffee-shop talk after Mr Clint made an emphatic dream debut on Sept 10 - and deservingly so.
In that Restricted Maiden evet over 1,200m, he won with panache, coming from off the pace to win with a quick turn of foot in the final 200m.
What we saw was a nice horse winning with his raw potential. The way he found his feet to produce that kind of run spoke volumes of his potential.
We knew then that his connections will have plenty of fun with him.
Although he could only finish third in his subsequent start last time out on Oct 1, we just cannot rule him out just yet with a stroke of the pen. His follow-up race was just too close from his debut, more so over 1,400m second-up for a young horse.
With that second-run syndrome over and the improvement that he has made, the fun should continue for Mr Clint's connections in Sunday's Class 4 event over 1,600m.
Stablemate Casey is running in Friday's Open Maiden event over the same 1,600m trip.
Casey has improving form, albeit unplaced in all three runs so far.
He finished about 10 lengths behind the winners in his first two starts, finishing 10th and seventh respectively, but was only four over lengths in arrears last time out when sixth.
He sure looks capable of springing a surprise.
The other horse that caught the eye yesterday morning was the Cliff Brown-trained Draco.
The last-start winner had Sunday's Racing Guide Classic-winning jockey Michael Rodd aboard when covering 600m on the right-handed Track 6 in 38.1sec in the company of stablemate Key On Kodiac.
Draco was striding out fluently all the way.
The four-year-old New Zealand-bred has hit form again, coming from near-last to win his last start over 1,200m - his third win from nine outings - on Sept 15.
Before yesterday's hit-out, Draco finished a close third in a 1,000m trial.
So, with his trial and track form being good, it would be prudent to follow Draco in Friday's Class 3 race over 1,200m on the Polytrack, although all his three wins were on turf.
Stablemate Key On Kodiac is still a maiden from 15 starts but his two best showings -both third - were from his last two starts.
As such, he is a live hope in Friday's Class 5 race over 1,800m on the Polytrack.
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