Pindus has his eye on the prize
Nippy youngster tops yesterday's training sheet at Kranji
You must have been disappointed when you noticed that Pindus wasn't going to run last week.
After all, you probably had him down as a good thing - maybe even made him your banker - for that Friday night of racing.
Then, he hurt his eye and the guys from the veterinary department said "no". Rightfully so, they ordered his withdrawal and all bets - yours included- were refunded.
That's racing.
The good news is, all is well with Pindus. The three-year-old is fit as a fiddle and ready to take off from where he left off. That being that huge second-placed run on Sept 6.
More about that later. For now, here's better news. Pindus looked like a million bucks on the training track yesterday morning when sent out for a 600m gallop which he did in 37.2sec.
It was a huge run and the youngster ticked all the boxes.
Back to that defeat by Lim's Knight early last month.
It was in a Class 4 event over the flying 1,000m and Pindus was making his Kranji debut, having arrived with a handy Australian record of six seconds from 10 starts.
So they accorded him the ultimate compliment. They flocked to the windows and backed him down to $10. For a while, the Ricardo Le Grange- trained runner ran like a favourite, holding second spot from the get-go.
Alas, when push came to shove, Pindus capitulated and Lim's Knight - the $16 second favourite - came with a sustained run to nab him on the line.
By Exceed And Excel, Pindus is a work in progress.
He gets pride of place on Sunday and will carry the No. 1 saddlecloth. Barring any unforseen racing incidents, he should add a "1" to his resume.
Another one who should do well on Sunday is the well-tried Fulife King.
He had Benny Woodworth doing the steering when sent out for a 600m gallop in 39.6sec.
He looked tight as a drum and, if he manages to bring that form to the races, he could be the one they might all have to catch.
Trained by Mark Walker, Fulife King has been a regular money-spinner for his connections who, it must be said, love their racing as much as they love their horses.
Last time out, he carried just moderate support and ran a good race to finish third behind Pennywise and Kiss Your Song.
He is much better than that. Indeed, it was five months ago that he put together back-to-back wins - one of which was when he took apart a Class 3 field.
Since then, he has been lying low but showed a glimmer of form in that last outing which was a Class 2 race.
With yesterday's gallop under his girth, and a drop back to Class 3, Fulife King served notice that he's ready to run a really big race.
If you're at the track for Friday night's nine-race programme, save something for a punt on Mr Coppola.
He looked in good order when ridden out by Joseph Azzopardi to clock 39.1sec.
With just a solitary win to show from eight starts, Mr Coppola is better than that.
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