3 minute read

Star three-year-old Affleck was simply in a class of his own on Friday night, demoralising his rivals in the final leg of the More Magic 3YO Championship series.

The star juvenile of his generation, Affleck continues to raise the bar, emulating the feats of superstar galloper War Affair — by making a clean sweep of the 3YO series.

Though some query stepping up to a mile, the son of Battle Paint passed the test with flying colours, saluting by close to six lengths in the feature event.

Affleck

Forced to track tearaway leader Sebas — Affleck settled beautifully in second.

Travelling strongly entering the straight Affleck quickly loomed up and went straight passed Sebas inside the 400m.

Let rip by Danny Beasley, Affleck showcased his sharp turn of foot and raced away from his rivals — opening up a widening margin.

Eased up over the final 100m, Affleck toyed with his rivals, with the 2015 Singapore Guineas now firmly on the radar.

Affleck recorded a new career peak on Friday night — improving five pounds on his previous best, achieved in the Group 3 Juvenile Championship.

As a juvenile, Affleck was rated alongside the likes of War Affair, Mr Big and Gingerbread Man — with his performance in the Juvenile Championship seeing him rated marginally ahead of War Affair.

Affleck has since gone on to continue this trend at three, with his latest performance marked a pound superior to his very talented rival.

This in turn creates plenty of interest, as War Affair went on to show sharp improvement at the end of his three-year-old season.

War Affair's 2014 Singapore Guineas performance was simply breathtaking and he is now in line to re-write the history books in Sunday's Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup.

Whether Affleck can continue to mirror these significant ratings spikes remains to be seen, however he has given all the right indications to this point.

My Lucky Strike

The Mark Walker trained My Lucky Strike lived up to his solid market support on debut — when saluting easily in the second event.

Formerly based in Australia, the son of Charge Forward came over to Singapore with some handy form in the book, despite still being a maiden.

On debut he finished third behind Nordic Empire and was only narrowly beaten at Sandown at his third start.

Both performances saw him very well placed on Friday night, and he duly saluted.

Proving too good, up on the speed, My Lucky Strike saluted by two lengths — with more wins appearing in store.

Using Timeform ratings, My Lucky Strike still has close to 15 pounds up his sleeve — on his best form.

He appears to have settled in well to his new surroundings — and the overall time backed up the strength of his performance.

My Lucky Strike was marked well inside standard for an average initiation victor and should only improve further racing second up.

Walker indicated My Lucky Strike will likely line up in three weeks time — we strongly suggest you stick with him.

My Brothers Keeper

The Stephen Gray trained My Brothers Keeper returned to the winner's stall in fine fashion on Sunday when taking out the fifth event.

Unseen for 175 days, the son of Handsome Ransom made his return from a successful throat operation.

Having displayed good ability early on in his career, My Brothers Keeper now appears set to take the next step.

Unsuited by the moderate tempo, the now four-year-old displayed a sharp turn of foot — to come from last and sweep down the outside — to defeat the Michael Freedman trained Spanish Bay.

Comparatively, only Born To Fly recorded a quicker time on the day, and My Brothers Keeper's closing sectional was marked close to five lengths inside standard.

My Brothers Keeper still has six pounds up his sleeve on career best form and given he should only improve further racing second up, he should be followed closely.