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Bringer Of War was the beaten short-priced favourite in the first Leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe series and trainer Mark Walker still thinks it won’t be a simple task to turn the tables on her nemesis Charger this Sunday.
Sent out as the $8 favourite in the Kranji Nursery Stakes (1000m) on April 14, mostly on the strength of her two-from-two barrier trial wins, the New Zealand-bred filly by Burgundy led out the small seven-horse field for Shafiq Rizuan but was pegged back by John O’Hara’s runner Charger ($32).
Two weeks have elapsed and the two juveniles will again bump into each other in the $90,000 Singapore Silver Horseshoe (1000m), amongst a field which also includes three other first-Leg runners, Hun Yeang Road (third), Auspicious Day (fifth) and Monster Energy (seventh).
The new faces are Six Empire, Whistling Win and Antheia while Yaya Papaya has already had two starts in Restricted Maiden company without saluting.
Walker is under no illusions Bringer Of War will again have Charger as the main rival to beat, even if the Dick Turpin colt has picked up a two-kilo penalty. To the Kiwi handler, two-year-olds and their progress are not easy to evaluate so early in their careers.
“She needed the first experience. The winner was superior and beat her fair and square,” said the 2015 Singapore champion trainer.
“It’s hard to know if she has really improved from that first run, as they’re all two-year-olds with not much exposed form.
“She is quite a professional, though. She has a lovely brain and has a good attitude about her.
“Whether she has improved by more lengths than the winner, I don’t know, but I hope so. She will have to beat him again.”
Walker is certainly not overlooking the other two-year-olds as he is well aware one or two could pop out of the woodwork and upstage them on that day. To him, the second Leg is anything but a rematch between Charger and Bringer Of War.
With Shafiq suspended, it is three-time Singapore champion jockey Manoel Nunes who has been booked on the Jubilant Racing No 5 Stable-owned filly this Sunday. .
“Nunes galloped her yesterday and was pretty happy with her work,” said Walker who forged a successful relationship with the Brazilian at his previous premiership-winning seasons, but not quite so this year, even if it is gaining traction.
Currently topping the ladder on 30 winners, the five-time New Zealand champion trainer will again topscore the weekend in terms of runners with a bumper team of 12 runners on Sunday and 14 runners on Monday – for a total of 26 runners, which is roughly about a third of his squad of 77 horses.
From that big team, seven are even backing up, including two winners Keen Dragon and En Civil, respectively in Sunday’s Race 7 and 10. The pair are running in Monday’s last race.
“I’m racing some of them again as we’re having Polytrack races at the moment and the fields are not the strongest,” he said.
“Some like Turquoise King or En Civil are a bit old now and I just want to keep them going.
“Keen Dragon won last Sunday but he’s already booked to go to Malaysia. So, until that happens, I might as well give him another run.”
The other Walker gallopers having a second bite of the cherry within a week are Lucky Boy (third to Golden Spark on Friday) and Best Jade (fifth to Shaqraa on Sunday) on Sunday and Champagne Rein (fourth to My Horse on Sunday) and Kashan (fourth to In Bocca Al Lupo on Friday).
