Rocket Star set to blast off
Ricardo Le Grange's Singapore Derby hope is a clear standout at trackwork
It's never as crystal clear as it may seem.
Racegoers all have their personal favourites.
If you catch them in a talkative mood, they will burn your ears with their take on the Singapore Derby.
However, most concede that Sunday's contest could be a three-way face-off among the topweights - and I have no quarrel with that.
After trackwork at Kranji on Tuesday morning was done and dusted, we pointed you in the direction of Big Hearted and Mr Malek.
Yesterday morning, after flipping through the pages of this newspaper, there would have been plenty of nods from the kopitiam uncles who will be pleased to know that, after Tuesday morning's cantering exercise, Mr Malek galloped over 600m in a flashy 39.7sec.
They will talk about that but there is now another talking point.
And the horse to spice up that Derby dialogue will be Rocket Star. Here's why.
Rocket Star was the standout on the training track yesterday morning when, with Danny Beasley guiding him along, he clocked 38.6sec for his 600m sprint.
It was a stellar piece of work and it puts him right smack in the Derby picture.
Sure, he will have his detractors. They will argue that Rocket Star is a one-trick pony, whose wins have all been over the sprints and that he has not yet attempted anything beyond the mile. They will be right.
Rocket Star's four wins have been over 1,100m, 1,200m (twice) and 1,400m.
But these kaya toast pundits will be forgetting that Rocket Star did finish second to Inferno in the Group 1 Singapore Guineas last September. He ran third to Minister in the Group 1 Kranji Mile.
Both times he was doing his best work late - which does suggest he could appreciate the extra distance in the Derby, which is run over 1,800m.
Well, the arguments will continue - and that's a good sign.
So you ask, and rightfully so. What about the lesser lights in the Derby field?
Well, we can tell you that horses like Senor Don, Savvy Command, Sun Power and Teller were also out on the training track and that they looked good.
Senor Don had Wong Chin Chuen in the saddle when he accompanied Rocket Star in the 600m hit-out in 38.6sec.
Oscar Chavez did the steering on Sun Power who clocked a swift 35.6sec. Rizuan Shafiq was the pilot on the Mark Walker entry, Savvy Command, who clocked 36.3sec. Matthew Kellady kept Teller interested with a 38.5sec spin.
While we are all familiar with the exploits of Senor Don and Savvy Command, the interesting runner in the field could be Teller.
He's done zero in all his three outings at Kranji. But those races were run over the shorter trips of 1,400m and 1,600m.
That's not his caper. The Argentine-bred four-year-old has got staying genes. Before joining Shane Baertschiger's yard, he picked up three wins from his nine starts.
One of those was over the Singapore Derby trip.
Bear that in mind. Coming from the land, which gave us Messi and Maradona, Teller could, come Sunday, surprise us all by scoring an unexpected goal.
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