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Promising three-year-old Bale Star gave his prospects of a start in the Group 1 Singapore Guineas no harm following a slashing win in the $65,000 Graduation race over 1600m on Polytrack on Sunday.
Photo by Singapore Turf Club
The $500,000 mile feature is the third Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge and is traditionally run during the Singapore Airlines International Cup week on the Friday night (May 17).
Prepared by trainer Patrick Shaw and ridden by regular partner Barend Vorster, Bale Star enjoyed a cosy trail off a hotly-contested speed battle waged between four runners in the first 600m of the race before letting down powerfully in the home straight for a 2 ¼-length victory over Joyous Express (Manoel Nunes). The winning time was 1min 39.13secs.
Stablemate Super Victory (John Powell) was only able to grab the lead at the 1000m after outspeeding a tightly-bunched formation made up of Rough Day (Danny Beasley), Joyous Express and American Vision (Troy See) while Kim Divine (Shafiq Rizuan) was the only uninterested party giving the speed duel a wide berth as he had tailed off to a clear last entering the backstraight.
The pace then slackened off a touch, which allowed Kim Divine to rejoin the flock approaching the 700m while Super Victory was still holding sway in front.
At the top of the straight, it was evident those who had been used early were already leg-weary. While Rough Day weakened out of it, Super Victory tried his best to fend off the challenges, but there was no stopping Bale Star when he found a split at the 300m, putting the race to bed in a few strides.
“I’ve always had a high opinion of this horse. He’s still a bit immature, but the stronger he gets, the more he will turn into a nice horse,” said Shaw.
“At his only run on Polytrack, he ran third but that was because it was too short (1200m). He was looking for more ground.
“Obviously, I will be looking at the Guineas for him.”
Shaw said Super Victory did what he could but was not suited by the early scramble for the lead.
“The pace didn’t suit him. They went too hard early,” said the South African handler. “It wasn’t a bad run, but he’s clearly not as good as Bale Star.”
Vorster, who was at a double having won aboard Seasons Wonder in the opening event, said the son of Nadeem was destined for a bright future in Singapore.
“At the start, I was just mindful of one thing: Keep my position on the fence,” said Vorster.
“I didn’t want to cross too early as I didn’t want to be last. I just let the other horses give us a lead and he was always travelling relaxed from that point onwards.
“He was still green in the straight, looking around at the grandstand, but I’m still very happy with the way he finished off the race.”
Bale Star has now registered two wins from seven starts for stakes earnings in excess of $100,000 for the Tmen Stable.