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Talented sprinter Emperor Max appeared a moral on paper and he failed to disappoint his supporters with a dominant victory in the Group 2 Stewards' Cup on Sunday.
Having saluted at his first five starts since joining Stephen Gray's stable back in August last year, Emperor Max would go on to finish second at his next three starts, two of which were in Group 1 company.
A notable second placing behind Lucky Nine in the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint two back, the son of Holy Roman Emperor appeared extremely well placed under the set-weights conditions on Sunday and proved successful in continuing his impressive run for the Gray stable.
While not required to run anywhere near his career peak against the lesser opposition, his performance still had plenty of merit when leading throughout over the seven furlongs.
Though not a fiercely run affair, the jury is still out whether he can run a strong 1400m however moving forward it is expected that Gray will stick to the sprinting trips.
On Timeform ratings Emperor Max was rated well below his best however given the muddling tempo of the event, it made it harder for Emperor Max to really put a sizable margin on his rivals.
Interestingly enough if you take a look back through his record, Sunday's affair was actually the second biggest winning margin of his career and a case can be made that he is a horse who simply does just enough to win.
In what was his ninth start this time in, Stephen Gray has to be applauded for his marvelous training performance having taken Emperor Max from a Class 4 victory back in October to finishing second in the KrisFlyer International Sprint.
More notably on Timeform ratings Emperor Max on average had improved six pounds at each visit to the races prior to Sunday's victory, which is simply staggering and highlights his meteoric rise this time in.
Following Sunday's affair Emperor Max has been spelled and is expected to be targeted at the majority of Singapore's elite sprint races with a possible trip to Hong Kong not off the cards.
Outside War Affair, Emperor Max is arguably the best horse racing in Singapore at present and sets up a mouth watering clash with his younger rival down the track.
As it stands Emperor Max remains the only horse to have defeated War Affair as a late season three-year-old.
The Shane Baertschiger trained Klever Man also proved quite impressive on Sunday when breaking back into the winner's stall in the seventh event.
Successful in continuing his good run of form this time in the son of Dehere appeared in firm control from the outset when leading throughout.
After settling a fairly solid tempo out in front, he simply proved too good over the concluding stages and notched up a new career peak in the process.
The overall time of the event was just marginally slower to what Emperor Max posted later in the day with his closing sectional recorded to be just outside standard.
In what proved the fifth victory from just 16 starts the rising five-year-old is starting to build up quite the handy record and judging by his last display he does appear a galloper worth following in the future.
Having only been beaten narrowly in tougher company two back, if able to draw inside at his next start we feel he is definitely capable of taking that next step given he does appear on an upwards rating spiral.
The Michael Freedman trained Indian Jade proved most impressive on Friday night and was one of the highlight victors of the weekend.
Having displayed plenty of ability in Europe as a two-year-old culminating with a third placing behind Olympic Glory in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp, the son of The Sleeping Indian failed in his two starts in Hong Kong before joining Freedman's team earlier this year.
Adopting his usual position of settling down towards the rear, Indian Jade was left with a lot of work to do in the straight however Manoel Nunes never appeared to panic and Indian Jade dually responded late, surging to the line to score narrowly from Indicio.
Successful in recording a new career peak in Singapore the now four-year-old does appear on track for the Singapore Derby later next month.
Rated as high a 112 prior to going to Hong Kong his four performances thus far suggests he is back on track and while not rated up to his best he is clearly open to further improvement in the future and must be followed closely.