The General has been falling a little out of ranks of late, but trainer Ricardo Le Grange is confident he can get him back in step, even if he faces another tall order this Friday.
The six-time winner has not saluted in five runs this season, but apart from a second-last place in the Group 2 Merlion Trophy (1200m), he was not beaten out of his ground.
Le Grange has his reservations about a return to the winner’s enclosure for the Argentinian-bred five-year-old in the $100,000 Open Benchmark 97 race over 1100m, but can still hope that some luck in the running could see him annex a seventh win for his Thai owners, the Falcon Racing Stable.
“It’s a tough field. It’ll be very difficult for him to beat those good horses like Nova Swiss and Olympic Anthem,” said Le Grange.
“He hasn’t done badly recently, but it’s been the same story where he’s been running against very good horses.
“He’s drawn wide (11), which is a bit of a Catch 22 situation. On one hand, he’s a horse who doesn’t like to run around horses.
“A wide gate would be okay, but there are at least five or six who have speed on his inside. Ideally, he needs to sit just off the speed, but if he jumps out and tries to get in, he may have to fight with those on his inside and he can then get caught wide.
“I’ll leave it to Barend (Vorster) to work out the speedmap.”
Vorster is also concerned about the awkward alley but can only hope the son of Mutakddim has enough velocity to land into a handy spot without burning too much petrol.
“He’s a honest horse who always tries very hard. He runs better when he gets a quiet run,” said the South African hoop who has scored at half of The General’s haul even if Nooresh Juglall has been the most recent partner of late.
“But he’s drawn wide on Friday, and that will be against him. Hopefully he can get a good spot and still have a fight left in him.”
At his first season as a trainer in his own right, Le Grange could not complain with the way things have panned out since he officially took over trainer Patrick Shaw on December 15, 2016 and launched his first runners on January 1, 2017.
Shaw’s former right-hand man currently sits in fourth spot on 19 winners on the Singapore trainer’s premiership, seven behind leader Mark Walker.
“We’re doing very well, but you know what, I haven’t changed a thing to the way things were being run by Pat before. It’s been business as usual,” said Le Grange.
“From Day 1, I made it clear I would just continue Pat’s legacy, with the help of the same bunch of owners.
“I also said I would open the doors to new owners, both local and overseas, and that is exactly what is happening now.
“Just recently, Andre Lim joined us with three horse transfers, including Super Tycoon who won a nice trial today (other two are Super Dan and Super Power).
“I’ve known Andre for over 15 years. He had horses with us and he then left, but we’ve always maintained a good relationship.
“I was very happy with Super Tycoon’s trial this morning. I’ll see how he gallops next Monday and decide if I give him a run next week.”
