VERTICAL START ON THE UP

Vertical Start, who finished a sad ninth of 12 to Astrostar in his last start over the 1,200m, showed that he was ready to atone for that defeat when he turned in a nice gallop at Kranji yesterday morning.

After going one round at a steady canter, the three-year-old picked up the pace and breezed over the 600m in 35.1sec.

It was an admirable piece of work by the Argentine-bred, who was quick to get his first win on the board when he beat a Class 4 field over the sprint trip some six weeks ago.

In that race, his third since his Kranji debut in October, Vertical Start stalked the pace set by Dreamcatcher and Oriental Pearl and only made his move 200m out when he picked his way between horses.

He eventually won by half a length. Well supported, he paid $11 for the win.

Earlier, the son of Jump Start had put the writing on the wall when he ran a good fourth to Shipping Forecast over the shorter 1,100m trip - despite being a tad slow out of the gates.

Trained by Patrick Shaw for Kantor And Nastadt Stable, Vertical Start meets a competent OB 67 field over the 1,200m on Sunday.

Sharing topweight with OM, his other rivals include last-star winner Cool Customer, the honest Meaisin, the consistent Golden Curl and trainer Cliff Brown's pair of Gold Run and Californian Girl.

In what looks to be shaping up to be a nice race, Vertical Start - on his gallop yesterday - should be right in the mix from go to whoa.

WILLIAM LOW'S GUIDE TO YESTERDAY'S TRACKWORK AT KRANJI:

WORKOUTS BY HORSES ENTERED FOR FRIDAY:

Open Benchmark 97 - 1,400m: City Lad HHH (T Rehaizat) canter/34.9. Meteor Mike HH 37.8. Matterhorn 37.6. Gold Rutile (A Munro) 37.4. Hot Gold HH 38.2. Superb Success HH 35.4.

Class 4 - 1,200m: Maple Star 34.8. Pacino HH with Movie Goer HH (M Nunes) canter/36.7. Savodan (S Noh) 37.1. Gilt Lad (M Kellady) 36.7. Kaiser Bright (Munro) 37.1. Mr Ikhlas 41.9. Zac Velocity 38.4. Super Jetset HH (P Dellorto) 44.8.

Monday: Danny Ricardo (E Aslam) 37.2. Bay Of Island HHH 37.9.

Class 4 - 1,100m: Ultimate Warrior 34.5. Makawao HHH (R Hasri) 38.3. Sir Fleetwood HH canter/36.2. Smart Samurai 37.4. Super Spur canter/36.1. Toast's Angel HH (L Allpress) 43.1. Ladies First HH (M Zaki) 35.9. Machfive (I Saifudin) 38.8. Mr Mani (Saifudin) 38.7. Not Simple 38.5.

Monday: Prince Gonski HH (Aslam) 36.3. Pint Sized Prince (V Leal) 36.7.

Kranji Stakes Div 1 - 1,800m: Winning Success (J See) 44.8. Slayer 39.3. No Nonsense 44.7. Face Off HH (O Chavez) canter/36.7. Super Star HH canter/36.6. Pinyin 35.8. Reciprocate (KT Cheng) 41.4.

Monday: My New Boss 38.2.

Kranji Stakes Div 2 - 1,800m: South Gate (Saifudin) canter/36.2. Stage Bright 36.5. Beautiful World HH (Nunes) canter/36.3. Golden Dominator (SH Lee) 39.6. Pure Rabid HH 38.3. Royal Brat 35.8. Faithful Warrior HHH 38.4.

Monday: I Like (M Airy) 36.8. Johnny Hates Jazz HH (Zaki) 37.6

Class 5 Div 1 - 1,200m: Sarawi canter/35.5. Wairakei 34.9. Waltz HH (D Beasley) canter/35.2. Thrust HH (C Brown) 37.1. Lucky General 36.2. So Perfect HH (Noh) 38.2. Enzo 35.8. Sui Generis 35.3.

Class 5 Div 2 - 1,200m: Jade Win 34.2. Best Bargain 34.8. Faberge 36.7. Cassis Oolong HH (K Yazid) 37.7. Gypsy Star (See) 37.4. Soaring Win (Cheng) 38.5. Win The Day (D Chee) 35.3.

Monday: Al-Hamid 38.3.

Maiden - 1,100m: Dragon Walk (Beasley) 35.5. Lucky Strategy 37.1. Above Limit canter/35.5. Good Score HH (S John) 38.9. Rising Ahead HH (Saifudin) 36.7. Blossoms Sequel (John) 37.9. Celestial Star canter/37.7. Chinese Tycoon 40.9.

Initiation - 1,200m: The Mighty Thor HH 37.2. Panama City 39.6. Smart Chief HH 34.5. Three Whip 36.1. Whatanite with Right Is Right (Munro) 37.3. Astroheat HH 36.6. Time After Time (Saifudin) 36.5. Turangawaewae (Brown) canter/35.2. Imperious 37.2.

Monday: Precious Gem 37.

WORKOUTS BY HORSES ENTERED FOR SUNDAY:

Open Benchmark 83 - 1,800m: The Rude Warrior HHH (Kellady) 34.2. Fatkid HH 34.9.

Kranji Stakes C - 1,200m: Board Walk HH (H Amin) canter/35.1. Princess Sarah 41.1. White Coffee 35.6. Captivate HH (Nunes) 36.5. Wilkinson 36.1.

Novice - 1,200m: Acoustic HH (Chavez) 37.1. Eagle Storm HH (Aslam) 39.1. Dauntless Knights canter/34.8. My Brothers Keeper (Allpress) canter/37.1.

Class 4 - 1,600m: Phantom Knight (R Zawari) 38.1. Casino King HH canter/36.4. Soon Yi (Chavez) 40.6.

Monday: Inspire HH 36.8. Irish Flash 38.2. Super Victory HHH (B Vorster) 35.9.

Open Benchmark 67 - 1,400m: Vertical Start HHH (Vorster) canter/35.1. Cool Customer HH 35.4. Mr Magnus HH with Golden Curl (Allpress) 38.1. War Time (Chee) canter/36.6. Faretti HH 37.2.

Monday: Meaisin (Zawari) 36.9.

Kranji Stakes D - 1,000m: Indulge HH 36.2. That'stheone 38.2. Tomorrows Dreams (Zawari) 37.4. Fuku's Pet (WL Tan) 36.6. Reverse Takeover 39.8. His My Idol HH 35.6. Sacred Crown 40.1. Bally Boy 38.3. Zena 41.7.

Class 5 Div 1 - 1,600m: Bukit Rose Wood 35.6. Abyss (Zawari) 37.2. Real Goodman (YF Leong) 38.1.

Monday: A's Victorious 35.6.

Class 5 Div 2 - 1,600m: Feed Me More HH 38.4. Double Hock (John) 38.9. Rich Born (Allpress) canter/36.2. Social Network (Leal) canter/37.8. Rollthedice 36.3.

Monday: Newfoundfame 35.6.

Class 5 - 1,100m: Yugioh (Beasley) 40.3. Storm Arc 38.2. Gypsy Magic 36.1. Jet Set 35.5. Samurai Kid 43.7.

Monday: Fantastic Boy 37.3.

Initiation - 1,200m: Tiger Stripes 41.9. Juseagleye (Tan) 35.6. Onwats App (Aslam) 37.6. Winning Star (Allpress) 35.1.

Monday: Dragon Peak (Hasri) 40.3. Perfect Predator 37.

Restricted Maiden - 1,100m: Luminescence 37.5. Super Bonus (Leong) 39.8. Montreal Gold 37.2.

KRANJ

TRACKWORK