Alibi made a successful and impressive return to racing when he easily accounted for his six rivals in the $100,000 Open Benchmark 83 race over 1200m on Friday night.
The promising four-year-old was first-up since his fifth place to Lim’s Cruiser in the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy (1400m) in November, and going with his two barrier trials and his general condition leading up to that comeback race, the confidence level had been high – and the Darci Brahma entire was right on the button.
Ridden by regular partner Vlad Duric, Alibi ($9) settled in an ideal spot in third place as Grand Cross (Glen Boss) set a steady tempo to the race from Constant Justice (Manoel Nunes).
Turning for home, Grand Cross tried to rally again like at his last-start all-the-way win, but Duric, who rode him at that win, knew he had him covered as he brought Alibi with his final assault down the middle of the track.
As hard as they tried, Constant Justice and Grand Cross could not match up to Alibi’s searing turn of foot inside the last furlong, but did well to hold on for the placegetting berths – respectively second place two lengths away and third place another half-a-length away. The winning time was 1min 8.99secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.
Laser Storm (Alan Munro) ran on late to just miss a podium finish by a neck while Absolute Miracle (Danny Beasley, sixth) and Darci Charmer (Michael Rodd, fifth) were a touch disappointing.
With that fifth success, Alibi has now taken his stakes earnings even closer to the $300,000 mark for his connections, the Alibi Stable.
Winning trainer Michael Clements could not hide his satisfaction at having ticked that first box in the best possible way en route to loftier plans.
“He’s had a good break and a good couple of trials. He’s come back fitter and stronger,” said the Zimbabwean-born conditioner.
“He’s picked up a bit of weight after a tough season. I think psychologically, the break has also done him a world of good.
“It was tempting to run him in the Rocket Man Sprint (won by Lim’s Cruiser last Sunday), but in the end we thought it would have been a tough race first-up and it would be far better to get back into it by going for an easier race.
“Vlad rode him like clockwork tonight, and he was just too good in the end. Depending on how he pulls up, I may look at the Lion City Cup as an option for him, but ultimately he will be set for the 4YO series,”
The Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) is the third and final Leg of the Singapore Sprint Series - whose first two Legs have been won by Infantry (Merlion Trophy) and Lim’s Cruiser (Rocket Man Sprint) - and will be run on April 16 while the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge kicks off with the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) on May 28.
Duric was evidently chuffed he has now steered the New Zealand-bred entire to all his five wins, and even more so when it was bringing up his 300th win at Kranji.
“This horse has really improved. He won naturally at his first prep, even though he was still green,” said the Australian hoop.
“He’s trialled nicely and he gave me a beautiful feel during the race tonight. I knew I had the race in my keeping from a long way out.
“He flattened out like a nice horse. He had a nice break and whatever Mike has done to him, he’s really improved him.
“It’s always nice to reach a milestone. I love riding winners and obviously when you reach 300 winners, you’re doing okay.”
Duric went on to do more than okay later when he brought up a race-to-race double, even if purists might say it was a 1 ½! He dead-heated aboard Taichi Belt ($19) with longsot Land Below D Wind (John Powell, $113) in the next race, the $35,000 Open Maiden race over 1600m.
As per the tote rules on dead-heats, the win payouts for Taichi Belt and Land Below D Wind were later halved to $9 and $56 respectively.
Clements was not to be outdone as he also went on to double the dose in the following race, the $35,000 Class 5 Division 2 race with the well-backed Lion Wave (Manoel Nunes, $19).
