The 2YO puzzle became a little more blurry on Friday evening after the Steven Burridge trained Macarthur caused a minor upset in the IRT Juvenile Stakes.
The Hideyuki Takaoka trained Jupiter Gold was the headline act leading into the event but failed to showcase his best form when finishing third.
An impressive winner at his first two starts Jupiter Gold was ridden more aggressively this time around and in truth this could have proved his undoing.While at first glance the race appeared to favour the on-speed runners and could be deemed a sit and sprint, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Over the 1200m journey race leader and eventual winner Macarthur set a very fast clip early, recording 34.45 seconds for the first 600m.Conversely the closing section (final 600m) recorded was 36.33 seconds — in summary they ran the first half of the race over 11L faster than the second half.
It was an out and out slog with Macarthur reigning supreme with the backmarkers unable to come into contention after being run off their feet early.
A handy maiden winner against the older horses two back Macarthur proceeded to take that next step and improved 10 pounds on his previous best.When adjusting for sectional mark ups he returned time figures ahead of the bare form and given there was more than five lengths back to fourth, it appears a strong piece of form moving forward.
The Cliff Brown trained Athena really impressed at just her second start having caught the eye on debut in March.Resuming from a short 84 day break, she proved very game in defeat and displayed remarkable improvement.
At the weights she met both Macarthur [2.5kg] and Jupiter Gold [4.5kg] on better terms, however that is not to lessen her performance, she is clearly a nice filly moving forward.The big disappointment out of the race was the Shane Baertschiger trained Caorunn who clearly failed to live up to expectations.
Well supported late to start the $2.60 second favourite, Caorunn never came into contention finishing fifth beaten 5.3L.All in all he performed close to 10L below his career best and obviously remains under strong notice moving forward.
In what was his debut in Singapore the former New Zealand based galloper can be forgiven for his effort as he conceded a key fitness edge to a majority of his rivals.With just the sole trial under his belt the brutal early tempo clearly found him out and Caorunn is expected to improve sharply at his next outing.
A winner of three of his six starts prior to coming to Singapore, Caorunn is already a Group 3 winner and one should always be prepared to forgive a good horse one bad run.At his best Caorunn is more than capable and is still expected to make his presence felt in the Group 2 Golden Horseshoe [1200m] on the 8th of July.
He remains the highest rated 2YO in Singapore and the return to set-weights will no doubt help to swing the race back in his favour.
