3 minute read
The paranormal activity from tonight in the ninth race at Kranji should see financial alignment result for believing punters by way of Knight Spirit.
It is one of two Class Three feature events on the card, with the other being Race Seven and a sprint, where S$75K is the total stake offered each time.
Brian Dean trains Knight Spirit and after a 3kg claim the gelding does look a very scary proposition for his rivals at 53.5kg over the mile on turf.
Knight Spirit may not have won for a year but his formlines are more than worthy since and upon closer inspection they really do pass muster.
He is a three-time winner (two on turf), while his overall career of sixteen starts is made up of seven placings and four fourths too so he has only really failed twice lifetime.
His two misses both came at G1 and you can also use this when assessing him at a mile, as in four runs at the trip the result is three placings and a miss which came at the highest level.
If you still do not believe in Knight Spirit then also consider one of his fourth finishes came in an open class event over 1800m on the turf and the winner was none other than El Dorado, the now three-time winner of the G1 Singapore Gold Cup.
The other three times he has finished fourth sees the winners as being What Now, Silveron Wings and Jamal Malik and any of those would demolish the field that Knight Spirit meets tonight.
Last start the gelding was a very gutsy third after sitting wide and working on the pace, while before that ran home strongly in his two prior outings back from a break.
The winner of his last race was Power Blitz and he has since won again, while the runner up that he gave 1.5kg too in Alacarte and was a nostril behind at the line is a rival again here.
After the claim tonight we see Knight Spirit will receive 1.5kg from Alacarte for an enticing 3kg swing and that is gambling gold.
Another rival tonight that ran in the same race and finished seven lengths behind Knight Spirit plus carried 1.5kg less is Illuminado, so even he this evening with 3kg more or a 4.5kg swing does look thoroughly intimidated.
It will be the first time an apprentice has ridden Knight Spirit so there is an element of risk but this race just looks his for the taking.
There are lots of chances in the Class Three mile and many hard luck stories amassed too, with the sure to well backed Tarankali drawn well and Joao Moreira gets atop.
Bettors are in disarray after a winless last weekend for Moreira and tipsters became almost terrified into thinking his next mount must surely stop the curse.
Well they were wrong and not even calling in the Ghostbusters would have saved the day or night.
If you double up a $1 bet twenty times (starting at $2 or double a dollar) then the twentieth wager required to let it ride so to speak after a run of misses is over one million dollars, which is scarier than any ghost!
You would be seeing stars rather than spectres if on such a losing/chasing streak!
How many Moreira misses in a row is that now!
Tarankali was stiff not to win last start and was one stride from victory behind Power Blitz, which is a relevant formline as Knight Spirit also finished third too him about a month earlier.
All of the wins by Tarankali have come on the turf including one of them over the mile.
The names that finished behind him last start include Illuminado, Meteor Mike and Alacarte, so he too may have them covered.
Moreira has ridden Tarankali once before and the outcome was second beaten a lip over a mile on turf in a Benchmark 97, where the winner was Intercept.
That horse at its next four starts won and placed at G1 and placed twice at G2, so you know this is a serious formline albeit from May of last year but it does show the ability runner up Tarankali has.
Distinction and Rafaga have the current form and will both give a sight as proven turf winners but each is yet to win at the mile.
Urban Dancer has only won two races and both came on the turf, with a 1400m and 1800m victory too his name.
He is taking on Class Three for the first time but it is more to stop him from having to carry big weights and not being an overly big horse.
I give him a chance at 52kg from a good draw and Benny Woodworth has ridden him once before and the result was a third.
Meteor Mike is yet another runner to not have scored at the mile but Olivier Placais gets back aboard having won on the gelding two starts ago.
The transformation of late in Chase Me and Lightning Thief has been extraordinary and the wins have been both with contempt and withering respectively.
I suspect they will more than meet their match this evening and will both in fact cower at Class Three.
Knight Spirit looks a super each way bet and in fact is the win standout when you factor in form overall, while Tarankali looks the danger with perhaps Urban Dancer the trifecta value.
Enjoy the race.
