Singapore Review – 28th & 30th August 2015

Singapore punters faced another polytrack double header at Kranji last weekend with racing on both Friday and Sunday.

And there were some promising efforts from a future viewpoint, perhaps none better than Sunday’s Hong Kong Trophy winner Super Winner who continues to make progression in his Timeform ratings profile.

Now a winner of seven of his 10 race starts – all coming on the polytrack from 1000m to 1200m – he could not have been more impressive here. Despite a negative weight swing with Wimbledon on a recent meeting, he was again too dominant improving his rating by six pounds to a new master value.

Super Winner’s race time of 1.10:67 is well inside standard bordering on group time so this fellow has more to give. The Racing and Sports Field Strength figure shows this race as clearly the strongest of the night, just over 20 pounds superior to the next highest race on the programme.

While Super Winner’s best form has been on the polytrack, he did finish just over a length from Affleck on the turf at two, so don’t discount him if he runs on turf.

Runner up Wimbledon continues to race well – three wins and as many placings from his last six starts and showing he rates equally as well on the polytrack as he does on the turf. Stay with him.

The class 3 handicap was won by handy five-year-old Best Tothelign who notched his fifth career win, four coming on the polytrack at the 1200m distance of today’s race.

Fitter for two runs back from a spell, Best Tothelign camped on the back of the speed until negotiating a path through the field on the home turn, darting away to win comfortably, reeling off the fastest last 600m for the meeting. Best Tothelign does tend to string wins together so stay with him especially on the polytrack.

Another promising type to salute on Sunday was Golden Sword who remains unbeaten after two runs both on the polytrack.

Golden Sword looked good winning an Initiation Stakes on debut in fast race time but he did go up a notch here.

Jumping straight to class 4 company, Golden Sword was quickly into stride sitting second early then pressuring the leader on the home turn.

Once balanced up he quickly dropped his rivals running away to score easily by over two lengths.

Golden Sword’s race time says he is much better than the bare form here – closer to Benchmark 83 company – the most impressive part of the race was his last 600m - over half a second inside standard.

Turning to Friday night and the best performance was handed in by Strubeli who improved sharply on three runs back from a spell to re-enter the winners list convincingly taking out a Benchmark 67 over 1100m.

That was his fifth career win in 20 starts and the Timeform rating he returned was not far below his best ever figure.

Strubeli has always shown ability in the early part of his career in Singapore winning three of his first five starts. However as he rose through the grades his form tapered off a little but after a long spell he looks to have returned in better fettle.

There was a lot to like about the authority of this win – after travelling wide up on the back of the speed once balanced up in the straight he launched to race away winning by over two lengths running the last 600m inside standard.

Strubeli has some excellent collateral form from last campaign and if that translates to him improving this time in then further wins are in store. The Racing and Sports Sectional Split analysis also suggests the win might be better than the bare form.

Another eye catching run was that of third placed Golden Tomahawk who was a last start winner in this grade but was left with much to do after the sectional splits went against him. Watch for him on the polytrack in coming weeks.

Ends…