Article posted on -  5/13/2008 10:54:00 AM

Mourilyan

BROWN RUNNERS SETTLED IN WELL IN SINGAPORE

The majority of the runners for the two international premier races on May 18 had a light piece of exercise on Tuesday morning. With most having had a hit-out under the belt on Monday, a leisurely tune-up stroll was the order of the day.

While there was not too much to write home about, the improvement in the conditions of the runners, especially the overseas visitors, was clear to see.
South Africans Jay Peg and Mourilyan set forth on the Tapeta track and made their way back on the Polytrack, all at a steady canter.

Both of Herman Brown’s two gallopers looked in fine trim and jumping out of their skin, especially Jay Peg who pulled for the first 100m under track rider Chris Taylor.
“They’ve settled in really well, and the bonus is they’ve been getting along very well as traveling companions since Dubai,” said Brown who campaigned successfully with Jay Peg in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free last March.

“They may have a canter on Thursday and sprint up the straight.”

In that respect, Singapore Airlines International Cup runner Sir Slick was the one who showed his forwardness the most when he turned in a solid workout over the StrathAyr grass track under work rider Roxanne Rattley, without so much as a sign of blowing as he returned to his barn.

The Volksraad six-year-old stopped the clock at 37 seconds in the last 600m, sending his 15 rivals an ominous warning that he was not far off his top form.

Sir Slick’s trainer Graeme Nicholson was all smiles after the workout and said the gelding would have an easier time on Wednesday morning.“He’ll have a ‘wind’ gallop on Thursday morning and then I’ll assess him to see if he needs anymore work on Saturday,” said Nicholson.The weight is gradually coming off Sir Slick following his workouts, which involves two laps of the Kranji track at a canter before increasing the tempo.

“His weight was down to 509kg this morning and I would like him somewhere between 505 and 507kg come raceday,” he said.Fellow Kiwi Spin Around was put through his paces with a two-lap routine on grass at a strong half-pace over the second round.

“The horse is happy, I’m happy,” said trainer Steven Cooper.“He’s been cleaning up his feed bin. He’s not the greatest fast gallop worker, but we can’t be too complacent and have to keep flexing his muscles.“He will work over ¾ mile on Friday and finish from the 800m and a wind sprint in the last 600m.”Japanese raider Cosmo Bulk was bright and early as usual at 4am and contented himself with two rounds of slow canter over the fibresand.

Track rider Kenji Enami said his horse had calmed down after being a little keen on Monday. Enami will remain in charge of the 2006 SIA Cup winner throughout the one-week lead-up as trainer Kazunori Tabe only arrives on Friday night and jockey Masami Matsuoka gets in the day after.

French contenders Balius and Musical Way cantered on the fibresand and so did England rival Traffic Guard who had a light canter on Track 7.
The home team was out and about on the different tracks and the morning highlight was without a doubt the impromptu pairing of Onceuponatime and King And King on the grass track.

Onceuponatime with race jockey Danny Beasley aboard for trainer David Hill was meant to be the only local runner to work on grass but was joined at the last minute by Desmond Koh’s King And King with race jockey Soo Khoon Beng aboard.The two SIA Cup hopefuls did pacework and pulled up nice and relaxed.

Trainer Steven Burridge – who will be represented by Trigger Express and World Delight in the SIA Cup – is pleased with their condition.“Both my horses go into the race rock hard fit,” Burridge said. “They just had a canter this morning and will have their final gallop on the turf tomorrow.“Both have been in work for 12 months. Lately their work has been good and they are both eating well.“I can’t knock how they are going at present. I can’t fault them in any way, it’s just whether or not they have the class.”All the other local SIA Cup horses did slow work, giving every indication they were ready to step up to the big occasion on May 18.

It was a similar quiet morning for the KrisFlyer International Sprint contenders, who apart from Star Crowned, all went for a casual spin around the Kranji tracks.
The Rasheed Bouresly-trained Star Crowned, a recent third to Benny The Bull in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m), walked one lap on grass before working in earnest over 1200m to wrap up the last 600m in 38.8secs.
“Today was all about getting him to learn how to gallop on turf. He races only on dirt back home but he seems to handle it all right,” said Bouresly. “We will give him another fast work on Thursday, which should set him up nicely.”Hong Kong invitee Sanziro, who stayed at the stable on Monday, came out on the fibresand, pleasing his track rider Dale Bussey no end.
“He did slow canter over 1 ½ laps and felt very bright, quite keen actually, but that’s the way he is in Hong Kong anyway.”Trainer Caspar Fownes was on hand at Kranji to view his protégé but flies back to Hong Kong’s Happy Valley tonight as he has racing commitments at Wednesday’s race meeting.After giving his trainer Aditiyan Selvaratnam a few scares (loss of appetite, dehydration) shortly after he arrived, Salaam Dubai seems to have pulled through. He did pacework over 600m on grass, looking a lot more relaxed than the day before.

“He’s fine now. He now weighs 468kg and is still 4kg short of his ideal weight of 472kg,” said Selvaratnam.“Most of his fast work was done at home. If I give him too much work he will go off his feed again.”Darren McAuliffe, trainer of Universal Ruler, said the trip to Singapore for the KrisFlyer had matured his three-year-old greatly.
Universal Ruler had a canter on the fibresand and will have his final gallop for Sunday’s 1200m showpiece on the turf tomorrow.“He’s matured so much in the past few weeks,” said McAuliffe. “This is his first trip away from home and he’s handled it so well.“The first time we put him on a float to go to the trials, he lashed out, whacked his head and had blood streaming from him. We had to scratch him from the trials and turn him out for a break.“In his next preparation, we took him from Ascot to Belmont (Perth), a five or six minute float trip and he ended up a ball of sweat.“Now you wouldn’t know him. There wasn’t a bead of sweat on him after his flight to Melbourne and it was the same from Melbourne to here.”McAuliffe changed up Universal Ruler’s training this morning by switching him to the fibresand.“We just didn’t want him to do too much this morning,” McAuliffe said. “We just wanted him to do some light work.“He certainly knows where the straight is. That’s when he really wants to get moving.”Meanwhile there was not a great deal to report from local gallopers with most trainers keeping their charges for final hit-outs tomorrow morning.
They all did slow work except for Why Be who gapped his rivals by 13 ¾ lengths in a 1000m barrier trial.

STC