Infantry
Singapore Turf Club
Top three-year-old Infantry smashed to smithereens the pre-race concerns about his ability to measure up against better older horses after he posted a dominant win in the $100,000 Victoria Racing Club Trophy, an Open Benchmark 97 race over 1600m on Friday.
The son of Tavistock was at his second start since his mighty second to Debt Collector in the Singapore Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m). At his first run, when sporting visors for the first time in a Class 3 race over 1400m, Infantry ran a gallant second to Cyborg even though his jockey Shafiq Rizuan dropped his whip.
Tan raised the bar even higher at his next start, picking a Benchmark 97 race over 1600m, a distance he had yet to conquer, but any questions about whether he could hold his own were answered in no uncertain terms.
Taking up an ideal trailing spot behind the runaway leading duo of Brilliant Deal (Sam Subian) and Order Of The Sun (Benny Woodworth), Infantry was only set alight upon straightening. In a few bounds, he quickened past the pair to put a space on the rest while the other top fancy Bourbon Goldman (Vlad Duric) was a bit more dour than expected.
But it was daylight ahead as Infantry kept stretching away to gain his fourth win, by far his easiest up to now.
Winning trainer Alwin Tan was just as blown away by his ward's superlative performance, especially as he had some misgivings about the rise in class.
"I was not so confident before the race as he was up in class and was challenging very good horses, but he really showed his true colours tonight," said the current leading trainer.
"The only good thing in his favour was the light weight as he's a horse who all the while carried top weights.
"I think the visors helped and he also had a very strong rider tonight. I think he has really improved and he should be able to go beyond the mile.
"It's good that horse won for the Thai connections tonight. Most of the time, they are not here but tonight they saw their horse win."
Tan said it was too early to plot any ambitious paths for Infantry, but if he had to, he would favour a race like the Singapore Derby (2000m) next year over the Singapore Gold Cup (2200m) in November.
"It's a big question mark whether he can go for the Gold Cup," said Tan. "He's only three. I would rather take it step by step and wait until next year and go for the Derby instead when he turns four."
"He was very impressive tonight, but then again, when you look at his three-year-old form when he ran second to a very good horse like Debt Collector, it's not all that surprising he won so well tonight."
Infantry has now taken his earnings past the $285,000 mark for the Kajorn Petch R No 2 Stable. -STC
The son of Tavistock was at his second start since his mighty second to Debt Collector in the Singapore Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m). At his first run, when sporting visors for the first time in a Class 3 race over 1400m, Infantry ran a gallant second to Cyborg even though his jockey Shafiq Rizuan dropped his whip.
Tan raised the bar even higher at his next start, picking a Benchmark 97 race over 1600m, a distance he had yet to conquer, but any questions about whether he could hold his own were answered in no uncertain terms.
Taking up an ideal trailing spot behind the runaway leading duo of Brilliant Deal (Sam Subian) and Order Of The Sun (Benny Woodworth), Infantry was only set alight upon straightening. In a few bounds, he quickened past the pair to put a space on the rest while the other top fancy Bourbon Goldman (Vlad Duric) was a bit more dour than expected.
But it was daylight ahead as Infantry kept stretching away to gain his fourth win, by far his easiest up to now.
Winning trainer Alwin Tan was just as blown away by his ward's superlative performance, especially as he had some misgivings about the rise in class.
"I was not so confident before the race as he was up in class and was challenging very good horses, but he really showed his true colours tonight," said the current leading trainer.
"The only good thing in his favour was the light weight as he's a horse who all the while carried top weights.
"I think the visors helped and he also had a very strong rider tonight. I think he has really improved and he should be able to go beyond the mile.
"It's good that horse won for the Thai connections tonight. Most of the time, they are not here but tonight they saw their horse win."
Tan said it was too early to plot any ambitious paths for Infantry, but if he had to, he would favour a race like the Singapore Derby (2000m) next year over the Singapore Gold Cup (2200m) in November.
"It's a big question mark whether he can go for the Gold Cup," said Tan. "He's only three. I would rather take it step by step and wait until next year and go for the Derby instead when he turns four."
"He was very impressive tonight, but then again, when you look at his three-year-old form when he ran second to a very good horse like Debt Collector, it's not all that surprising he won so well tonight."
Infantry has now taken his earnings past the $285,000 mark for the Kajorn Petch R No 2 Stable. -STC