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Trainer Desmond Koh’s two ‘black type’ winners Guru-Guru and Order Of The Sun are back into the fray this Friday and will both saddle up in the same race again.
The pair last ran in the Group 3 New Year Cup with contrasting results. Guru-Guru came with a searching run to claim the Polytrack 1900m feature race while Order Of The Sun, the 2015 Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes (1700m) co-winner (dead-heated with Best Tothelign), floundered to run 10th more than eight lengths astern.
Koh has since tipped out both New Year Cup winner and loser, skipping the next middle-distance feature, the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1600m) in favour of Friday’s $125,000 Open Handicap over 2000m.
On Tuesday, Order Of The Sun came out for a barrier trial under race-jockey Wong Chin Chuen to score in a style which was at odds with his customary go-forward pattern.
Taking the drop on Alwin Tan’s leading pair of Nova Swiss (Olivier Placais) and Nova Warrior (Shafiq Rizuan), the Encosta De Lago six-year-old drew on level terms in the straight together with Infantry (Manoel Nunes) who was also running on four wide, before sticking his neck out to take out the trial.
Koh said the different sit-and-wait tactic was an attempt to think out of the box for the Macau-owned galloper.
“We are trying not to be too one-dimensional with Order Of The Sun. It seemed to suit him today,” said the Singaporean conditioner.
“He is known as a bold frontrunner, but I think he can also take a sit. It’s a small field, though, but the idea is to change his racing pattern.
“The distance suits him as well. He won his trial today, but that doesn’t mean he will win on Friday.
“I’ve given him a break along with Guru-Guru after the New Year Cup. I don’t have any plans with Order Of The Sun, just potter around with him.”
Order Of The Sun was one of Macau businessman Cheng Ting Kong’s first better horses since he established an ownership base in Singapore through Koh around two years ago. They even ventured overseas to Korea in the Korea Cup (1800m) last year, but the gelding did not act on the sand track at Seoul.
Koh said that Guru-Guru had done nothing wrong since his last start, but just like for Order Of The Sun, he is not getting too ahead of himself with the Faltaat four-year-old.
“I didn’t run him in the Fortune Bowl as I felt he wasn’t fit enough. He’s had a nice break and I still feel he’s not 100% fit,” he said.
“He’s not a horse with a big constitution and you have to space his runs. He had a quiet barrier trial last Thursday and I was happy enough with that.”
Being a four-year-old, Koh has tentatively pencilled in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge for the gelding whose owner Tan Huat landed the Group 1 Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m, the third Leg) with the Joao Moreira-ridden Chase Me in 2012.
“I guess he is a Derby horse, but there is still some way to go before we can definitely give him a run,” said Koh who has not captured another Group 1 silverware since.
“He is on the right track, but let’s see how he goes on Friday first. He’s got no weight on his back (50kgs), just like Order Of The Sun (50.5kgs), fingers crossed, they both run well.”
Guru-Guru will again have Malaysian veteran jockey Azhar Ismail in the saddle. The Malaysian multiple-champion jockey is probably a bit of a “guru” on the Tan Huat-owned galloper himself as he has now partnered him to three of his four wins.
“One good thing about this horse is he can maintain his form even after he hasn’t raced for a while,” said Azhar.
“He’s working okay. We gave him a quiet trial last week and I was happy with his gallop with another horse this morning.
“He’s a horse who has to be near the leader. In the New Year Cup, he was running in a pretty big field and that’s why I had to go wide down the back.
“Coming around the turn, he has to be up there already. He can’t be too far back or he won’t be able to make ground.
“It will also be nice if the track is yielding on Friday. He runs better on such ground.
“Desmond has done a great job with him. We can only hope for some luck in his race now.”