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Brilliant Korea Racing Authority Trophy winner Skywalk will attempt to go two-up in the $125,000 Kranji Stakes A race over 1100m on Sunday with trainer James Peters quietly confident in his chances.
The English handler said the Battle Paint five-year-old was bucking his brands off and the Polytrack event was just what he needed.
“The course and distance are just nice for him. He loves the Polytrack,” said Peters.
In 16 starts, the China Horse Club-owned galloper has won five of his seven races on the alternative track.
The highlight was of course the KRA Trophy on July 22, in which, under a 10-out-of-10 ride from Singapore champion jockey Vlad Duric, Skywalk came out tops in a handy field which also comprised three Korean horses.
The Ricardo Le Grange-trained Rafaello made it a Singapore 1-2 in the annual reciprocal race between the Singapore Turf Club and KRA, but Korea has closed the gap on Singapore after producing their best effort at their fourth time of asking with Today running third and Approach in fifth place.
Peters, who is also saddling another China Horse Club ward in old stalwart Olympic Anthem (his very first winner back at his first day at the office on April 1, 2016) in the same race on Sunday, sees no reason why Skywalk cannot reproduce the same KRA Trophy form, even if the conditions look tougher this time.
“Skywalk’s pulled up good after his last run. It’s going to be four weeks between runs, but he’s been working well since,” he said.
“I’ll just keep him going while he is in good form. He’s giving weight this time (for example 1.5kgs to Rafaello, his half-a-length runner-up in the KRA Trophy) which will make it a little tougher, but I still expect him to run well.
“As for Olympic Anthem, that was the only race for him. There aren’t many Class 1 races over 1100m for him.
“I’ve been waiting for a while for a suitable race for him. He won a nice trial last week (August 8) and I expect him to give a decent account of himself, even if it’s a strong race.”
Peters is putting on two regularly China Horse Club-booked Australian jockeys on the pair – Michael Rodd on Skywalk and Daniel Moor on Olympic Anthem. Both riders often ride in the prominent red and yellow colours, but they will be at their first partnerships with those two mounts.