3 minute read

There were a number of key performances in Singapore over the weekend headed by the Shane Baertschiger trained Best Tothelign on Sunday evening.

The definition of consistency Best Tothelign has placed in 16 of his 19 starts and brought up the hat-trick when too strong in the ninth event.

Unseen since his Group 3 success in the Colonial Chief Stakes [1700m], Best Tothelign was conceding a key fitness edge to a majority of his rivals but still proved too good.

Best Tothelign

Ridden by Matthew Kellady, Best Tothelign bounced away well to settle fourth with race favourite Spanish Bay taking up the running.

Travelling well into the straight Kellady looked to have plenty of horse underneath him and he quickly strode up to the lead inside the 300m.

Spanish Bay fought on well along the inside before Best Tothelign asserted his dominance, drawing away late to score by over a length.

Having returned a new career peak prior to a break, Best Tothelign continued his upwards spiral improving six pounds on his previous best.

A real punters' pal if one had level staked Best Tothelign since his debut in March 2014 they would have returned a healthy POT of +47.8%.

Following Sunday's event Baertschiger said they had no big plans in place with the five-year-old, though his success highlighted the fact he isn't just a one trick pony.

Prior to Sunday's event Best Tothelign only possessed the sole victory on the turf having placed on a further six occasions.

From nine starts on the polytrack he has only missed the money once and has notched up six wins.

Although given Best Tothelign returned a new career peak on the turf surface it indicates he is not simply a polytracker and thus it opens a lot more doors for the future.

His pet distance is also yet to be determined and given his versatility, Best Tothelign is definitely one to place in your blackbook as more wins certainly appear in store.

Mr Mosa

The third event saw the solidly supported Mr Mosa unable to salute however his performance held plenty of merit and is certainly one to stick with.

Now under the care of Stephen Gray the son of Alamosa was transferred to Gray's care mid-way through last year when formerly trained by Stephen Marsh in New Zealand.

A winner of one of his four starts, Mr Mosa had finished second on two other occasions and had displayed good ability.

Off the scene for over nine months, Mr Mosa was given three trials before his making his debut in Singapore early last month (April 3rd).

Narrowly beaten on that occasion Mr Mosa opened up a very big lead before just fading over the concluding stages when swamped late.

On the surface connections would have been disappointed he was unable to hold on, however when you consider the winner [Debt Collector] has since won the Group 2 Singapore 3YO Classic the form obviously appears very strong.

A noted front-runner Mr Mosa simply did too much work early with Special ID setting a gruelling tempo in the lead.

Ridden by Benny Woodworth Special ID recorded 46.07 seconds for the first 800m — over 9.5L faster than Spanish Bay in the Kranji Stakes A event (ninth race).

Given Mr Mosa was only just over a length away it emphasises how fast he went early with the race clearly run at a negative split (first half of the race run faster than the second half).

To stick on and finish third his performance was very strong and Mr Mosa is likely to springboard off that mark at his next outing.

While punters would have been disappointed to see him fail he had genuine excuses and if placed in similar company Mr Mosa should prove very hard to beat.