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The RM100,000 Sports Toto Supreme Challenge Cup this Sunday appears to be the most exciting in the series since it was first run as Sports Toto Trophy in 2004.
The line-up for the 1400m set-weight event this year resemble a contest for one of the traditional big races staged by one of the turf clubs.
It has attracted the cream of the sprinters and middle-distance horses in the country headed by topweight Awesome Storm .
The 12-time winner bounced back to form last start to win a Metro A event over 1200m last September 21 after failing to lead all the way in the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) early last month.
In his latest win, AWESOME STORM beat Gamestonks who has 10 wins to his name and is rated 114, just 3 points below AWESOME STORM. Singapore apprentice Jerlyn Seow, who rode the champion sprinter in the Selangor Gold Cup, will be back in the saddle.
GAMESTONKS inflicted ANTIPODEAN with his only defeat thus far in a Supreme A race over 1300m last August but skipped the Selangor Gold Cup as the 'mile' trip is probably beyond him.
Antipodean then made amends to win the Selangor Gold Cup to bring his record to eight wins in nine starts and gets into the Sports Toto Supreme Challenge Cup with 57kg, compared with AWESOME STORM's 60kg. Wong Chin Chuen, who nearly won the last running of the Singapore Gold Cup (beaten a neck on LIM'S SALTORO) at Kranji last Sunday, will ride ANTIPODEAN for the first time.
GOLDEN PEGASUS, beaten just a head in the Selangor Gold Cup, gets a rematch with ANTIPODEAN. The pair had swept the three and four-year-old series earlier in the year and met for the first time last start, and GOLDEN PEGASUS just lost out in a neck-and-neck duel by a head. Ruzaini Supien will partner him again.
GOOD FIGHT won this race last year and went on to complete a Cup hattrick with successes in the Coronation Cup (1600m) and Charity Cup (1400m) but he has struggled to find his winning form this season.
However, the Super One gelding showed that he was not far from his best with a third placing in the Selangor Gold Cup, then ran third again to BERRY BLISS over 1700m last September 22.
Two other past winners, SHANGHAI NIGHTS (2020) and VIOLET (2021), are also in the line-up but they are currently a pale shadow of their former selves.
BERRY BLISS, sixth in the Selangor Gold Cup, and STREETS OF FIRE (fifth), CHEVAL BLANC (seventh), and TRIGGER PEGASUS (10th) will also line up this Sunday.
BERRY BLISS upset GOLDEN PEGASUS to notch his 11th win in his first run after the Gold Cup. Interestingly, Clyde Leck, the regular rider of both BERRY BLISS and GAMESTONKS, will be riding the former.
STREETS OF FIRE (eight wins) finished second in this race last year and his best effort since was his second to CIRCUIT MISSION in the Penang Sprint Trophy last July.
CHEVAL BLANC, a two-time winner in Singapore, is much-improved since joining Frank Maynard, winning four times including the Penang Gold Cup (2000m) last December and the Tunku Gold Cup (1200m) in April.
TRIGGER PEGASUS came over from Singapore this year and won the Charity Cup (1400m) in his second start.
If the Macau Derby winner MEGA GEMS, the first emergency acceptor, gets a run, we could expect an improved performance from him.
The Zoustar gelding ran a creditable race in his Malaysian debut when fourth behind AWESOME STORM last time out. He was right in the mix all the way but just couldn't find that something extra in the final 200m.
No doubt the four-time Macau winner would have benefited from his first run in months and appreciate the longer trip this time.
