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Weight-pull a factor in Clements two-pronged attack in Restricted Maiden

3 minute read

Two-year-old debutant Greatham Boy, trained by Michael Clements ($75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m) caught the eye when nominations were released on Monday.

COIN TOSS winning the SINGAPORE GUINEAS GROUP 2
COIN TOSS winning the SINGAPORE GUINEAS GROUP 2 Picture: Singapore Turf Club

The Australian-bred juvenile by Stratosphere is one of seven two-year-olds in the field – four on debut – and given they will all be asked to carry only 49.5kgs at the weight-for-age conditions, all come under notice.

Clements also has a three-year-old debutant in the race – the speedy Leg Day (x Shalaa), who will start one of the fancies on trial form – but the seven-and-a-half kilo pull at the handicapped weights is significant.

A 'weighty' point not lost on the 2020 Singapore champion trainer, on a day where the job at hand was a welcome distraction from the shattering news delivered last Monday.

"It is good to see these two horses (Greatham Boy and Leg Day) make their debuts this weekend," said Clements from his stables on Tuesday.

"I thought they both trialled very well (Leg Day won trial no. 1 on June 8 in the time of 0.59.87secs when beating Greatham Boy into second by six lengths).

"Yes, Leg Day won well but Greatham Boy chased him home strongly and gapped the rest (another 15 lengths to third horse). They also carried similar weights in the trial, so the weight pull on Saturday will be a big factor."

In fact Leg Day – with race jockey Manoel Nunes onboard – carried 62kgs in that Official Race Trial, while Greatham Boy carried a whopping 68kgs with Daniel Moor up. So you could argue that weight swing will be closer to 13kgs come race day.

With such a lightweight to carry, apprentice jockey Ibrahim Mamat (who will ride at 50kgs) has the job on Greatham Boy and Clements thinks barriers will play a big part in how the race pans out.

"He (Greatham Boy) can jump and run so hopefully he draws well and Ibrahim can make use of the lightweight," he explained.

"And obviously Leg Day has plenty of speed, so Nunes will be hoping for a good gate as well to use that to his advantage."

Elsewhere on the card, Clements thinks Petrograd has found a winnable race and gets his chance in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1000m.

"He (Petrograd) is in form and the field on Saturday doesn't look overly strong," he said of the three-year-old son of Russian Revolution.

"The horses that have last start winning form are up from maiden or Class 5 company, so we have the best recent form in this type of race.

"(Jockey) Ronnie (Stewart) stays on and he doesn't have to improve much on what he showed last start to win."


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