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The impressive Johnny Guitar was the horse most thought would represent trainer Patrick Shaw in the Three Rings Trophy (1400m) this Sunday, but the Argentinian-bred will stay in his box, having given up his berth for a stablemate who is no slouch either, Bale Star.
Shaw did pencil in the Group 3 event as the next assignment after Johnny Guitar scored a resounding win in a Kranji Stakes A race over 1400m on February 2, but changed his mind after he worked out the handicaps.
“He would have carried 59kg and that is too much for him to carry,” said Shaw.
“I will therefore have only Bale Star. He has ticked all the right boxes so far and deserves a shot at it.”
The Nadeem four-year-old was one of the better three-year-olds last year, but unfortunately had Stepitup in his way in the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge. But the Tmen Stable-owned gelding has kept improving since then, never finishing worse than second in six subsequent starts for two wins over 1400m and 1600m.
At his last start in a Benchmark 83 race over 1200m, Bale Star rushed home from centrefield to beat all but the undefeated Emperor Max. He will sit (drawn in gate six) among a small but select field of six runners on Sunday, with Zac Spirit, Goodman and Holy Empire among the leading hopes.
“It’s a strong field, but I’m sure he will run a good race as he never lets us down,” said the South African handler.
“He has done very well and is a very consistent galloper. He always tries his guts out.
“He can run anywhere in the field, but I would imagine he won’t be further than four lengths off the lead.”
A Group 1 winner over 1600m in Argentina, the Fred Crabbia-owned Johnny Guitar will still get his chance to test his mettle at Group level at Kranji, but not on a track that really strikes a chord with the Lode four-year-old.
“I will set him for the Polytrack Mile Championship, even if he ran very badly at his only race on sand in Argentina,” said Shaw.
“But he works well on Polytrack here and trials well on it too. Just this morning, he ran second in his trial and I was very happy with that.
“Hopefully, we get some rain and that will help the Polytrack settle a bit better. I don’t want any speed record, just a nice fluffy surface.”
The Group 3 race over 1600m on March 7 may turn into a mouth-watering contest with champion three-year-old Stepitup a possible starter after his slashing Fortune Bowl success on February 1.
A perennial Top 10 finisher in the Singapore trainer’s honours, Shaw is having a rather subdued start to the 2014 season, currently sitting mid-table on five wins, but he is certainly not fretting over it.
“Two-year-olds make up half of my stable. They need a bit of time to get going,” said Shaw.
He is also not making any hasty plans with the horse who has put himself and Singapore on the world map – the one and only Rocket Man. Unseen since notching his record fourth Lion City Cup in April 2012, the 20-time winner of more than $6.7 million has been the subject of much speculation as to his racing comeback, though he has been more regularly spotted on the training tracks of late.
Shaw had some reassuring news for his legion of fans, though he would not cast anything in stone for the 2011 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner.
With Dubai World Cup plans shelved, the rising nine-year-old’s tentative aim is now the race he famously became the first home-based sprinter to win in 2011, the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m) on May 18.
“I’ve kept Rocket Man ticking over, but he won’t race if the track stays hard. There are no immediate plans for him as a lot also depends on the vets,” said Shaw in reference to Rocket Man’s well-documented problems with his legs.
“He feels good and everything seems fine with him. He’s done some pacework and worked over two laps.
“If the vet is happy, we will run him and right now the KrisFlyer is the race we have in mind for him.”
On the other hand, Shaw said that Rocket Man’s “understudy” Ato, who incidentally gave him back-to-back KrisFlyers in 2012, is much closer to a return to racing.
“Ato has been back with us for a while now. He’s had quite a bit of work under the belt and will be trialling soon,” said Shaw of the Newbury Racing Stable-owned Royal Academy entire who made a quick return to his stables after a career in the breeding barn at Summerhill Stud in South Africa was aborted due to export protocols, or at least, put on hold.
“He should race soon. I will look for a Kranji Stakes A race over 1200m for him.”