Nova Swiss bolts home in fastest time

There was a lot to like about all the five trial winners at Kranji yesterday morning.

All should be jotted down in your notebook.

But the one that really sizzled was trainer Alwin Tan's Nova Swiss, who led all the way to clock the fastest time of the morning, in 58.70sec for the Polytrack 1,000m and he did it charging to the line as if there was no tomorrow.

There was not a hint that the four-year-old was tired. He kept going at full throttle and the rest were struggling to keep up. At the post, he beat Majestic Moments by three lengths.

He was ridden by the rider who knows him best, three-time Singapore champion Manoel Nunes, who rode the chestnut gelding to all his five successes.

Besides yesterday's trial victory, Nova Swiss already showed his return to form with his second to one of Kranji emerging stars, Countofmontecristo, in an Open Benchmark 97 event. The winner clocked a fast time of 1min 10.76sec for the Polytrack 1,200m.

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That second placing on Aug 20 broke a sequence of four unplaced outings, signifying that Nova Swiss has come right again.

The New Zealand-bred started his Kranji career promisingly, winning five races in a row - from Class 4 to Open Benchmark 97, which is in effect Class 1.

With his profound ability, trainer Tan obviously had high hopes on his rising star.

He entered Nova Swiss in the Group 2 Merlion Trophy over the Poly 1,200m and what a race he ran. He was beaten only close home by stablemate Infantry, who later won the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby over 2,000m and, only recently, the Group 1 Panasonic Kranji Mile.

Now that he is back in form, keep Nova Swiss in your mind.