The Bruce Marsh-Opie Bosson combination enjoyed a good night at the office on Friday when they teamed up for a winning treble.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
Short-priced favourites Californian Star and Californian Girl certainly brought a lot of sunshine and smiles to the New Zealand pair in earlier races before Palombaro, who also started favourite at $11, made it a perfect night with a slashing win in the $75,000 Class 3 race over 1000m on Polytrack.
The Rusty Spur six-year-old was coming off the back of two consecutive seconds in similar races and that formline did not lie when he charged through on the rails to beat a very gallant Kaiser (Soo Khoon Beng) who was resuming from a three-month spell by 1 ¾ lengths. Third another half-a-length away was Squall Line (Joao Moreira).
The winning time was 59.29secs.
Palombaro was always in the firing line from the outset after Bosson settled the gelding in third behind the speed set by Swagger (Barend Vorster) while Kaiser was camped in second on the outside.
The order changed little till the home turn when Kaiser made his intentions known by drawing first blood. Swagger stood up to him for a few strides but Theo Kieser's former top juvenile soon got the ascendancy.
But Bosson in the meantime had been biding his time and when he felt it was the right moment to go, Palombaro just accelerated beautifully on the rails to score a handsome win.
Bosson, who has had a quiet time after a flying start with a double on New Year's Day, was delighted he had regained his winning touch with a treble for good measure.
“When it rains it pours. It's been a good day,” he quipped. “I knew I had some pretty good chances tonight and I'm glad I've made them count.
“It was probably the best book I've had since January 1. All I needed was a bit of luck and I had it tonight.
“This horse (Palombaro) just got the last run in the straight. He didn't spend a penny in transit and once he found the gap he kept up a strong gallop to the line.”
Marsh said Palombaro was a horse who seems to have sharpened up with age.
“He used to be more of a 1200m horse, but it looks like he is sharper with age,” said Marsh. “I think he's really matured and thrived as he has got older.
“We knew the speed would be on tonight and I just told Opie to take a sit behind the speed. Things panned out exactly the way we wanted and it's paid off.
“We've have some great results tonight. It's always good to end up on the right side of the ledger when you have three favourites.”
