King’s Command (NZ) (Tavistock) boosted his chances of a ticket to the SNG$1million Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) after his commanding win on Saturday.
On 67 points, trainer Shane Baertschiger’s five-year-old grey languished around 10 nominations down the list of the time-honoured handicap race, badly in need of a win to climb his way up closer to the cut-off mark.
While it was mission accomplished after the son of Tavistock came off a patient ride from claiming jockey Zyrul Nor Azman to take out the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1800m, they’re not out of the woods yet.
A penalty of say five to six points from the handicapper might only see him leapfrog over six or seven runners – which may or may not be enough.
With the race still three weeks away on November 14, his Australian handler, however, remained upbeat given much water could go under the bridge by then.
“He had to win today. There’s no way he would have won with 59kgs and that’s why I put Zyrul on – to get three kilos off,” said Baertschiger.
“He’s one of the best three-kilo claimers around, and as he was available, I booked him early.
“My instructions to him today were to settle midfield or worse than midfield. When I saw the two leaders (Buddy Buddy and Con Speranza) going at each other upfront, I was smiling.
“The win has even more merit after he ripped his front shoe down the backstraight. He’s a really nice horse.
“He was a bit flat after his last run (July 3) before he was supposed to run in the Singapore Derby. I gave him a spell and today was his first time going beyond the mile, second-up over 1800m.
“But he’s a Tavistock, I never had any doubt he can get the trip and even 2000m. He would be a good lightweight chance in the Gold Cup.”
King’s Command has now taken his smart record to five wins and three placings from 14 starts for more than $155,000 in stakes earnings for the Aramco Stable.
