The story of Friday trackwork at Singapore’s Kranji Racecourse was the exciting appearance Lizard’s Desire, second home in the 2010 Dubai World Cup (G1) and Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1). Clockers from the Singapore Turf Club caught South African-bred working 600 meters in a blazing 34.9 seconds, the fastest 600 meters that STC reps can recall this week. The work was as visibly and audibly impressive as any we’ve witnessed in three days trackside. The “audible” portion of this observation is key, as horses just seemed to be struggling more with the thick, sweltering conditions this morning (more on that later). Mike DeKock’s trainee couldn’t have gone better – glued to the inside rail on Polytrack, striding powerfully without any off breathing noise. Many here question whether or not he can continue to run quality races having had a long campaign in Dubai, then traveled so well and just missed in Hong Kong. Regardless, you can’t deny an impressive piece of trackwork that we experienced today at Kranji.
Most notably, Gloria De Campeao was in a slight jog over Polytrack and was audibly gasping with each stride. Having seen his preparations for two years at the Dubai World Cup, and especially liking his appearance as reported on this site in advance of his Dubai World Cup victory, his image this morning left much to be desired.
Mariol, ninth in the Al Quoz Sprint (G3), landed by Joy And Fun, took a go over the Polytrack and his 600 meters were almost eight seconds slower than bullet worker Lizard’s Desire.
As we’ve said this week, it has been difficult to ignore Al Shemali, who was another who moved with little noise when galloping over the turf under Royston Ffrench. The Dubai Duty Free (G1) winner is in fine fettle and, once again, the connections remain quietly confident that their son of Medicean could pop with another big one. He was timed in 39.2 for his 600 meters work, which wasn’t even expected to be a serious one.
Rocket Man galloped away from the grandstand but the Singapore Turf Club caught the video of the work and the press area was mesmerized as the he was under incredibly heavy restraint from Robbie Fradd and was tugging away. The strong favorite gets stronger!
One Comment
I’m curious as to whether or not anyone hit a Gloria De Campeao, Lizard’s Desire, Allybar tri-fecta in the 2010 Dubai World Cup? I think these horses showing up from the beginning of the carnival made all the difference for them in the Dubai World Cup. Gloria De Campeao and Allybar both went off at odds of 16-1 for the DWC. While Lizard’s Desire went off at odds of 33-1. You’ll never get these three horses at those kind of odds again. The short priced horses for the 2010 DWC were the one’s who were shipped in just for that particular race. Gio Pont, Twice Over, Vision D’Etat, and Gitano Hernado all went off at odds of 13-2 or less. Mastery and Richard’s Kid also shipped in just for the DWC. Both of them went off at 16-1.