Friday, 29 June 2012: A couple of American bred rising stars look likely to remain unbeaten after tonight and they are part of a good team throughout the card in fact for the John O'Hara stable.
The Saratoga Stable race two American breds in the O'Hara stable that are yet to taste defeat on raceday/night in Singapore namely Emerald Hill and Flash Gift.
Emerald Hill is two-from-two and unbeaten in two trials as well and the four-year-old by Sharp Humour keeps scoring by big margins and clocking super time.
His trial wins before debuting started with an easy win over Mighty Creation (a rival tonight) and Bullet Fly (also American bred), with the key fact being the former has won twice and the latter is unbeaten in two starts since.
The other trial win saw Emerald Hill demolish Makkura, which since resuming has won both her starts.
O'Hara produced Emerald Hill for his keenly awaited debut and the Ismail Saifudin ridden runner at odds as tight as a drum scored by six lengths in 1:04.56 for 1100m on the poly.
Last start saw a five and a half length win after showing bionic speed from the barrier to lead and win a Graduation 1000m clocking 58.50, so he is already running open class times almost with ease.
Speed thrills and Emerald Hill has it by the monster truckload so this evening we will see if this not yet fully polished performer can get the hattrick.
He is tackling Race Seven, a tidy S$75K Progress line up over 1000m containing just three and four-year-olds, on the poly and has the inside stall.
O'Hara has two other runners in the twelve-horse field and remarkably has drawn gate three with Whirlrunner and gate four with The Cardinal.
This is the biggest test for Emerald Hill for sure and several others like to lead or at least keep the heat on to the home turn, so it will be no place for faint-hearted in the equal highest staked race on the card.
I see the 55kg as no concerns and if they can actually run better than 58.50 then Emerald Hill it is worth remembering still had heaps up the sleeve in clocking that slick time last start.
Precisely from a starting to shine again Laurie Laxon stable on the premiership path has drawn gate two and likes to lead and run fast or at least keep a leader company before overtaking it.
The three-year-old last start was far too good over 1100m on the poly in a Novice and clocked 1:05.15 to beat a couple of fair sorts in the process.
For punting perspective Emerald Hill on debut winning his maiden at 1100m ran the equivalent of four lengths faster and when you consider he scored by six lengths the numbers start to get scary.
Danny Beasley gets atop Precisely for the first time, after it has had Joao Moreira on three times and Jose Verenzuela and Stephen Baster once each, so it has gun riders on and will continue that trend tonight.
Do not dismiss the stablemates of Emerald Hill in The Cardinal and Whirlrunner as value chances second up having both drawn well and won on the poly.
O'Hara could do the unthinkable and train the trifecta!
The form of Mighty Creation, BM Win and Humour Town ensures all three will get respect on the tote and two of them are also American bred.
They all have won at least once on the poly and possess speed and ability to win several more races but on times alone Emerald Hill has them off the bit and gasping at the 200m.
Has the O'Hara rising star that has said sayonara to the opposition big time in each outing so far already psyched out the field tonight?
The Saratoga Stable have something special in their ownership with Emerald Hill and it could be a tasty main course after an earlier entrée in Flash Gift, which tackles Class Four in the third race.
Flash Gift is a three-year-old by Lawyer Ron and his debut win was a display of speed then slight throttling back across the top before a devastating second detonation halfway up the run home.
The third finisher Gusha was beaten over six lengths and has since come out to win with the irony being it was a narrow victory over an O'Hara runner in Abastor that was colossal in defeat and runs tonight in Race Two.
This is an ask for Flash Gift being drawn out in a field that has several burners and some that are coming back in class or field strength overall appreciably but rider Greg Cheyne is not getting off anytime soon.
When he won on debut the time for 1100m was 1:05.18 or similar to what Precisely clocked in winning his second race, so it tells you the upside of the gelding but also emphasizes the Emerald Hill time on debut was superb.
John O'Hara is currently on fourteen wins for the season and could quite possibly get three visits to the winners enclosure just tonight so look for his rapid rise up the table after this weekend.
Enjoy the poly track pace and performance of Race Seven tonight.
