3 minute read
Star galloper Mr Malek confirmed his position as one of the best in the land when far too good in Saturday's Group 2 Stewards' Cup.
Already Group 1 and Group 2 placed, Mr Malek has displayed plenty of ability and had few concerns bringing up career win number eight.
Formerly trained by Lee Freedman Mr Malek won six of his first 10 starts with two of his defeats coming at the hands of star galloper Inferno.
Rated 105 by Timeform when finishing second behind Inferno in the 2020 Group 1 Lion City Cup [1200m] he confirmed himself as a star.
Failing to produce at his final start for Freedman Mr Malek was spelled before joining Burridge's team.
Rated 98 in his return behind Kharisma he improved to run a Timeform rating of 99 second up.
Already a Class 1 winner over a mile, Mr Malek has already shown his versatility and as expected improved further on Saturday.
Ridden by Harry Kasim, Mr Malek enjoyed a lovely run in transit, settled fourth one out-two back.
Clicked up entering the straight he peeled to the centre and set out after the leaders.
Letting down well he joined in at the 200m before racing away to score easily by a length and a quarter.
Rated 105 by Timeform he equalled his previous best with a hint of more to come.
A winning figure of 105 is right on the average for the last five years with War Affair the highest rated winner of the event in recent times.
Rated 121+ in 2015, War Affair was just a different beast.
A big occasion for trainer Stephen Burridge who collected his first ever four-year-old feature winner in his 17 years at Kranji.
"He's a very good horse, we were expecting him to run well and he's done a good job, I'm very happy," Burridge said.
"The first two leaders came back down the backstraight, but he settled and relaxed beautifully. He just does what he's good at.
"We'll look at the Derby for sure, even if it won't be easy.
"My horse will have to come through today's run good of course, but he's a good doer, so I'm not too worried. He was three kilos up today, he had a good trial last week and a good piece of work at his Tuesday gallop."
The Michael Clements trained Big Hearted shapes as the main danger in the Derby and notably started favourite in the feature on Saturday ($3.00 Vs $3.40).
When adjusting for sectional mark ups there was only a pound between the pair which sets up a thrilling clash in the Derby.
At this stage I'll stick with Mr Malek.