3 minute read

The future appears bright for young trainer James Peters after the progressive Titanium claimed the Group 2 Stewards' Cup on Sunday evening.

Born in London, Peters began his career in the horse racing industry as a track rider for late Lambourn trainer John Hills.

In 2010 he came to Singapore after he accepted an offer from Freedman to work as a senior track rider.

In no time Peters was handed higher responsibilities and soon became Freedman’s assistant-trainer in July 2012.

Among his roles Peters was also the travelling foreman for horses like Mr Big and Better Be The One and became caretaker trainer for Freedman’s horses in January 2016 after the Australian left for Sydney at the end of 2015.

Peters officially took over as a trainer in his own right in April and hasn't looked back since.

In that period Peters has saddled up 82 runners collecting nine winners and a frustrating 27 minor placings (16 seconds).

The recent success of both Street Taipan and Titanium took his career prizemoney earned past the $1Million mark with many more wins to come.

Titanium

Despite a narrow defeat in the Group 3 Moonbeam Vase [1800m], four-year-old Titanium was surprisingly given little hope in the Stewards' Cup sent out a 40-1 chance.

A winner of six of his 16 starts Titanium has always displayed plenty of promise and as a result was sent out the market elect on eight occasions.

While he has struggled with consistency Titanium looks to have turned the corner with his performance on Sunday most impressive.

In just his second start for Peters, Titanium displayed sharp improvement when working home strongly, easily disposing of his rivals.

A sectional star behind In Factin the Moonbeam Vase, Titanium proved to have little concerns with the drop back in trip aided by a patient ride from Harry Kasim.

Settled at the rear Titanium spotted the leaders a considerable start on straightening however Kasim didn't panic and simply let him work through his gears.

Pulled the widest runner on straightening Titanium began to lengthen nicely and quickly began to wear down the margin.

In a line of five inside the 300m Titanium then asserted his dominance, drawing away late to score by two and a half lengths.

Visually his performance was very impressive and the clock certainly confirmed this.

For his last 800m Titanium was marked over four lengths superior to his nearest rival (My Lucky Strike)and over six lengths superior to third placegetter Believe Yourself.

His final 200m was recorded in 22.64 seconds, over three lengths superior to his nearest rival and was the key section that cemented his dominant victory.

Comparing raw times is obviously flawed but can be of some interest.

Last year when winning the Stewards' Cup War Affair averaged 11.36 second 200m sections for his last 800m — On Sunday Titanium averaged 11.42 second 200m sections for his last 800m.

This year's renewal recorded an overall time of 1.22:54 which was marked one length faster than last year.

The sluggish early tempo in the 2015 Stewards' Cup resulted in the overall slower time however the fact Titanium could maintain such a strong finishing speed off a faster tempo indicates he should be even better over further.

While not one to suggest he is anywhere near the level of a horse like War Affair, however Titanium's effort on Sunday rates highly from a historical perspective.

Only War Affair has bettered Titanium's level of performance and thus he creates plenty of interest moving forward in the 4YO series (Group 1 Patron's Bowl [1600m] and Group 1 Singapore Derby [2000m].

If able to continue his progression in the next two legs of the series it appears Titanium will be very hard to beat and should go on to prove that his performance was no fluke.