Sunday, 29 July 2012: After the absolute spacing Chase Me put on the G1 Emirates Singapore Derby a fortnight ago there is no reason to doubt him against the all comers today under WFA.
 | Chase Me wins Singapore Derby
Photo by Singapore Turf Club | |
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In what must rank as the biggest knockout punch ever landed at Kranji the Desmond Koh trained and Joao Moreira ridden Chase Me gapped a G1 field.
The eight-length margin at the post was an equine Koh (knock out horse) of epic proportions and the four-year-old only bounded clear at the 300m, so Moreira must have been thinking wow.
Chase Me 
can win the S$300K G2 Chairman's Trophy (1800m) today as by all reports he came through the Derby looking for the next fight club to conquer.
He has to carry the same 58kg as some battled-hardened warriors in the ninth race on the card but the strongly built gelding can cope just fine.
There is precedence to say the Derby to the Chairman's Trophy can be done with just last year a glaring example.
The fifth finisher in the Derby namely Always Certain won the Chairman's Trophy last year for the Michael Freedman stable and John Powell rode.
Powell rode the Derby winner in Clint so he bagged the double and Moreira can do it this year but on the same horse.
Chase Me had raced well for sixth at G2 under WFA versus all comers in the QE II Cup (2000m) four starts ago.
He found the line attractively and was beaten two lengths with the winner being a rival again in Waikato, which Moreira rode that day.
Barrier twelve is slightly awkward but now Moreira knows he is on a bionic finisher that has a haymaker of a punch turning for home it will all come down to when to unleash the weapon.
If they go hard then it sets up the rising star to shine again plus he did come from gate eleven to win the Derby.
Waikato is a danger as he will never retire and can jump the 600m in this as distance switching has been his hallmark for many years.
In what is irony only thoroughbred racing can come up with Grey Cheyne will ride
Waikato in the feature and he was atop Chase Me in the QE II, when Moreira scored on the old warhorse.
Laurie Laxon trains and part owns the wealth creator Waikato and he is currently in a riveting four-way premiership battle with Steve Burridge, Michael Freedman and Leslie Khoo.
Cheyne has been riding well since coming to Singapore and he will be on a real professional racehorse that when held up for one burst knows where the winning post is as he has saluted nineteen times already.
The other two proven big race warhorses at WFA are El Dorado and Flying Fulton with both these encapsulating what durability and winning really means at Kranji.
El Dorado is a three-time G1 winner (all Longines Singapore Gold Cups) and Flying Fulton is a three-time G3 winner (Polytrack Mile, New Year Cup and Committee's Prize).
Do not worry about El Dorado being fresh up as he has won twice in such a state plus the last time he raced saw him run a sound sixth in the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup behind the easy winner Chinchon.
Flying Fulton at his last nine starts had won three times and placed four times with a fifth and sixth to make up the consistent formline.
He has won and placed in near a third of his Singapore starts with eight wins and placings in twenty-eight outings and could join the millionaires club today with a win.
Leave this pair out of the multiples at your peril as they just deliver too often when the big stakemoney is on offer.
A couple that can rumble at Group level are
The Comedian and
Black Ice .
It is no surprise they come from the Freedman and Burridge stables respectively as this training premiership race has been tremendous all year so far.
The Comedian has a G2 placing and
Black Ice a G3 placing with the former a bigger frame for WFA purposes.
However last start at 1800m we saw
Black Ice finish second albeit on the poly though you need some perspective as the winner was Flying Fulton and it carried 1kg more and bolted in.
It explains why Flying Fulton has most of the runners covered today under the WFA scale plus Jose Verenzuela suits the big horse being let stride along then asked to quicken further.
Chase Me is in the zone at the moment and if anywhere near his Derby peak performance then the rest are running for second.
Waikato and Flying Fulton are the next best pair.
Enjoy seeing the Derby winner back two weeks later after what will be a hard romp to replicate.
The feature juvenile event on the card is Race Five with a full field for the S$200K G3 Magic Millions Championship (1200m).
The debut win of Super Kenny was special and the son of Chilean sire and Horse of the Year in Host seems to have inherited his ferocious turf speed and stride.
Host won twice at G1 including the Shadwell Turf Mike at Keeneland and the former star Australian filly Alinghi finished eighth in that race.
Alinghi (four-time G1 winner) was then trained by the great and now late trainer Robert 'Bobby' Frankel.
It is his surname after which the current
Timeform titan of Team GB in Frankel is named with the owner Prince Khalid Abdullah a former patron of the stable.
The field for the Magic Millions contains more natural leaders than you will see in one race at Kranji all year so it could be a real drag race and pressure-valve contest.
Pitstop was big resuming after a tardy start and she will be booming home with a decent beginning plus she won the G2 Golden Horseshoe second up from gate two and has the ace today.
If you want the overs chance then look no further than the former New Zealand trained gelding Mai Guru that even from a wide draw is a win chance as he has serious enough ability.
Mai Guru is now prepared by David Kok and K B Soo will ride the son of Ishiguru that can burn early if required but might be blessed if sat cold in a race that looks a surefire throttle-fest.
He is a left-hander but went some huge races clockwise despite being asked an awful lot of and his ninth in the G1 Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie was colossal.
The gelding was four-wide near the pace then copped interference the run home in what was the messiest race in New Zealand last year by far but boxed on bravely to be beaten just over three lengths.
It was some run and at his only other start over 1400m in the G1 Sire's Produce would go too quick in front then get taken on from the 800m before puncturing the run home.
Enjoy the rich baby dash for cash.
