3 minute read

A relatively quiet weekend in Singapore with a surprise winner on Sunday one of the horses to follow.

Only a recent addition to the Michael Clements stable, four-year-old Raheeb defied the odds (30-1) when too strong leading throughout in the seventh event.

Formerly trained by Jumaat Saimee, Raheeb displayed good ability in three starts, culminating with an impressive maiden win in November 2017.

Off the scene for 436 days, Raheeb wasn't disgraced on debut for the Clements stable, finishing fifth.

While failing to live up to market expectations, he then proceeded to be beaten a long way behind Fame Star.

Given a freshen up (56 days), Raheeb displayed sharp improvement when too good under Callan Murray.

Ridden aggressively early, Raheeb landed outside the lead with the Mark Walker trained Federation holding the rail under Glen Boss.

Travelling boldly throughout, Raheeb quickly took over on straightening and drew clear with the chasing pack having few answers.

Ridden out to the line, he went on to score by 2.8L and ran good time in the process.

In just his second attempt on the polytrack, Raheeb clearly appreciated being ridden on-speed and looks back on track.

Hot favourite Mo Almighty boasted some strong collateral form, but was unable to make an impact, finishing third.

From first to last the margin spread was 13.7L and it appears a decent piece of form.

Raheeb's maiden win was also very good and while he looks to have his quirks, if able to hold his form, he looks to have more wins in store.

On Friday night the Shane Baertschiger trained Blue Swede put in a strong performance, when finishing a narrow second behind Mikki Joy.

While failing to feature first up over 1400m, he showed good improvement out to the mile and should be right at his peak next start.

Ridden by Michael Rodd, he settled at the rear before peeling the widest runner on straightening.

Letting down well, he loomed up and hit the front briefly before Mikki Joy kicked back and just got the bob in on the line.

Blue Swede ran the quickest last 1400m of the night and sixth fastest last 600m.

That should top him off beautifully for his next outing and if placed in suitable company, he should prove very hard to beat.