3 minute read
Star three-year-old Debt Collector confirmed his place at the top of the tree when breaking through for his first Group 1 success in Sunday's Singapore Guineas.
Trained by Cliff Brown, Debt Collector followed up on his impressive performance in the Group 2 Singapore 3YO Classic [1400m] when simply dominant in the Guineas.
Unbeaten in three starts this time in, the son of Thorn Park has clearly gone to a new level and in the process landed Michael Rodd back to back victories in the feature event.Last year we saw Rodd rate Affleck beautifully in front when leading throughout, however this year's renewal was a completely different scenario.
A noted backmarker, Debt Collector settled towards the rear with the Alvin Tan trained Infantry setting a decent tempo out in front.With the majority of the field fanning wide on the turn it would be Rodd's patience that would prove key.
Sticking towards the inside, Rodd didn't panic and carefully picked his way through the field with Debt Collector out into the clear inside the 400m.Letting down strongly Debt Collector set out after the leaders and quickly mowed them down hitting the front inside the 100m.
Drawing away late, Debt Collector went on to score by two lengths with a further four-and-a-half lengths back to fourth.Visually you are unlikely to see a more impressive performance and the clock quickly confirmed this.
For his last 400m Debt Collector was marked over seven lengths superior to his nearest rival and for his last 800m he was marked eight lengths superior — put simply it was like men against boys.Over the years we have often seen one horse dominate the three-year-old ranks from Better Than Ever to Super Easy and more recently War Affair.
From an historical perspective this current three-year-old crop is still a fair way behind the likes of what we have seen in past seasons however Debt Collector is quickly making up for lost time.Prior to Sunday's Singapore Guineas we were yet to see the dominant three-year-old emerge, but that he did and in a big way.
Debt Collector's performance saw him return a clear new career peak and continued his upwards rating spiral.While not rated as high as the likes of previous winners there appears to be plenty of blue sky ahead for this son of Thorn Park.
Debt Collector's performance on Sunday comes attached with a "+", a symbol we anticipate he will use to his full advantage in the future.'p' commonly referred to as a small 'p'; the horse is likely to improve
'P' commonly referred to as a large 'P'; the horse is capable of much better'+' the horse may be better than rated
Sunday's performance stamped himself as arguably the most promising horse in Singapore and given it was only Debt Collector's seventh start we are very much looking forward to his future.Cliff Brown has enjoyed a fair amount of success in recent months having also won the Group 1 Lion City Cup [1200m] with stable star Zac Spirit.
While it is still early days, Debt Collector appears well on his way to fly the flag for the Brown stable in the future.If not already in your blackbook, Debt Collector is a must as many more wins appear in store - he is quite the talent.