Rising star Top Knight confirmed his position as one of the best 3YOs in Singapore, with an impressive victory in Friday night's Group 2 Singapore 3YO Classic.
A handy winner first up, Top Knight went on to finish a narrow second behind Bold Thruster in the Singapore 3YO Sprint [1200m], when arguably the run of the race.
Ridden conservatively from the wide draw on that occasion, Top Knight was forced to weave his way through the field, storming home late.
Visually he couldn't have been more impressive and the clock certainly backed up the strength of his performance.
Not only did he return the quickest closing splits of the race, he also returned the fastest 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m and 200m of the meeting.
Friday night was no different.
Sent out the pronounced favourite ($2.20), Top Knight settled towards the rear, before peeling the widest runner on straightening.
Though appearing to take a while to wind up, he again reeled off some very slick sectionals, gunning down the Donna Logan trained Makkem Lad in the last stride.
While only a bare margin, when analysing the race sectionals, it clearly flattered those on-speed and if allowed to run his race more efficiently, there is certainly more to come with Top Knight.
Second placegetter Makkem Lad couldn't have been ridden any better, Wong flushed it, however under a different scenario Top Knight has close to 2.5L up his sleeve.
Dictated to by the wide draws at his last two starts, there is no reason to think Top Knight can't adopt a more forward position if drawn to advantage.
Out to a mile he remains open to further improvement and now has the perfect platform to explode fourth up.
Friday night's race saw him return a Timeform rating of 96 with a hint of more to come.
A winner of five of his eight starts, he is one of the more promising horses in Singapore and no doubt trainer Michael Clements can't wait to see him line up in the Group 1 Singapore Guineas [1600m].
Based on Friday night's race, he is clearly the one to beat and if he draws inside, I would say it is "Goodnight Irene" in the Guineas.
On Sunday evening we saw Singapore's best sprinters line up in the Group 3 Rocket Man Sprint [1200m] and what a race it was.
The Shane Baertschiger trained Bold Thruster came out on top, but all eyes were on Singapore's champion sprinter Lim's Cruiser.
While unable to gun down the 3YO, Lim'S Cruiser proved very game with the big weight and should take plenty of benefit from the hit-out.
Conceding 7kg to his younger rival, Lim's Cruiser was only beaten half a length and looks right on track for the Group 1 Lion City Cup on May 25.
Rated 112 by Timeform, he chases his third straight Lion City Cup and with all things being equal, he is clearly the one to beat.
Bold Thruster continues to improve, now rated 104, but still has a fair bit of improvement to make if he is to beat Singapore's current champion sprinter at WFA.
