Watch out for Aushorse thriller
Trainer Ricardo Le Grange's Aushorse Golden Horseshoe quartet among the many chances in Friday's Group 2 feature for 2YOs
Friday's $325,000 Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe is surely turning into a race with a gilt edge.
This final leg of the five-race Singapore Golden Horseshoe Series for two-year-olds has stacks of form. The capacity field is led by five last-start winners, two debut winners and a plethora of place-getters.
What makes it more exciting and intriguing is that most of the contenders are oozing with form, as evident from their trackwork over the last two days.
On Monday, Pennywise, who is trainer Ricardo Le Grange's two-from two winner from the first two legs of the series, led the star performers with a gallop that suggested he is the horse to beat when clocking 36.5sec with jockey Barend Vorster astride.
Stablemate and fellow Aushorse Golden Horseshoe runner Gamely, who finished third in both starts, clocked 37.6sec with Vorster aboard, looking nice.
Yesterday, Le Grange's Streetwise and Toosbies were among the many Aushorse Golden Horseshoe contenders who sparkled in their hit-outs.
Paired together, the duo breezed over 600m on the Polytrack in 38.1sec with Vorster and Nooresh Juglall astride respectively. The two horses pulled up full of running.
Streetwise was a big improver last start on July 1, stepping up on his debut sixth to capture the fourth leg of the series with his gutsy performance. He staved off the fast-finishing Michael Clements-trained debutant Siam Vipasiri, who galloped earnestly in 38.6sec on Monday.
On the day when Streetwise won, stablemate Toosbies himself displayed his ability with a fast second to debut winner and another Aushorse Golden Horseshoe candidate Mr Hooper, who took it easy yesterday in 44.8sec but looked sharper with a run under his belt.
With a quarter of the field, Le Grange seems to have the strongest hand on Friday but it won't be plain sailing with a host of on-form challengers breathing down his charges' necks in the 1,200m showpiece for juveniles.
Yesterday, seven Emirates Singapore Derby candidates, including second emergency-acceptor and last Friday's winner Magnificent Gold, also went against the clock in preparation for the $1.15 million Group 1 feature over 1,800m.
Of the seven, two of them - trainer Leslie Khoo's Yulong Xiong Hu (Juglall) and Claudia's Beauty (Vorster) - took to the turf track for their gallops.
The pair ran the final 600m in 38.1sec on the yielding track. Both looked well.
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