Trainer Desmond Koh's 'black type' winner Guru-Guru is back into the fray this Friday.
He last ran in the Group 3 New Year Cup and came with a searching run to claim the Polytrack 1900m feature race.
Koh has since tipped out Guru-Guru, skipping the next middle-distance feature, the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1600m) in favour of Friday's $125,000 Open Handicap over 2000m.
Koh said that Guru-Guru had done nothing wrong since his last start, but he is not getting too ahead of himself with the Faltaat four-year-old.
"I didn't run him in the Fortune Bowl as I felt he wasn't fit enough. He's had a nice break and I still feel he's not 100% fit," he said.
"He's not a horse with a big constitution and you have to space his runs. He had a quiet barrier trial last Thursday and I was happy enough with that."
Being a four-year-old, Koh has tentatively penciled in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge for the gelding whose owner Tan Huat landed the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m, the third Leg) with the Joao Moreira-ridden Chase Me in 2012.
"I guess he is a Derby horse, but there is still some way to go before we can definitely give him a run," said Koh who has not captured another Group 1 silverware since.
"He is on the right track, but let's see how he goes on Friday first. He's got no weight on his back (50kgs), just like Order Of The Sun (50.5kgs), fingers crossed, they both run well."
Guru-Guru will again have Malaysian veteran jockey Azhar Ismail in the saddle. The Malaysian multiple-champion jockey is probably a bit of a "guru" on the Tan Huat-owned galloper himself as he has now partnered him to three of his four wins.
"One good thing about this horse is he can maintain his form even after he hasn't raced for a while," said Azhar.
"He's working okay. We gave him a quiet trial last week and I was happy with his gallop with another horse this morning.
"He's a horse who has to be near the leader. In the New Year Cup, he was running in a pretty big field and that's why I had to go wide down the back.
"Coming around the turn, he has to be up there already. He can't be too far back or he won't be able to make ground.
"It will also be nice if the track is yielding on Friday. He runs better on such ground.
"Desmond has done a great job with him. We can only hope for some luck in his race now." -STC
He last ran in the Group 3 New Year Cup and came with a searching run to claim the Polytrack 1900m feature race.
Koh has since tipped out Guru-Guru, skipping the next middle-distance feature, the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1600m) in favour of Friday's $125,000 Open Handicap over 2000m.
Koh said that Guru-Guru had done nothing wrong since his last start, but he is not getting too ahead of himself with the Faltaat four-year-old.
"I didn't run him in the Fortune Bowl as I felt he wasn't fit enough. He's had a nice break and I still feel he's not 100% fit," he said.
"He's not a horse with a big constitution and you have to space his runs. He had a quiet barrier trial last Thursday and I was happy enough with that."
Being a four-year-old, Koh has tentatively penciled in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge for the gelding whose owner Tan Huat landed the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m, the third Leg) with the Joao Moreira-ridden Chase Me in 2012.
"I guess he is a Derby horse, but there is still some way to go before we can definitely give him a run," said Koh who has not captured another Group 1 silverware since.
"He is on the right track, but let's see how he goes on Friday first. He's got no weight on his back (50kgs), just like Order Of The Sun (50.5kgs), fingers crossed, they both run well."
Guru-Guru will again have Malaysian veteran jockey Azhar Ismail in the saddle. The Malaysian multiple-champion jockey is probably a bit of a "guru" on the Tan Huat-owned galloper himself as he has now partnered him to three of his four wins.
"One good thing about this horse is he can maintain his form even after he hasn't raced for a while," said Azhar.
"He's working okay. We gave him a quiet trial last week and I was happy with his gallop with another horse this morning.
"He's a horse who has to be near the leader. In the New Year Cup, he was running in a pretty big field and that's why I had to go wide down the back.
"Coming around the turn, he has to be up there already. He can't be too far back or he won't be able to make ground.
"It will also be nice if the track is yielding on Friday. He runs better on such ground.
"Desmond has done a great job with him. We can only hope for some luck in his race now." -STC