3 minute read

The Michael Freedman trained A La Victory continues to come of age following an impressive first up performance at Singapore on Sunday.

Given a short break following his unplaced effort in the Group1 Singapore Guineas [1600m], the son of Alamosa dominated his rivals when saluting easily in the ninth event.

A La Victory

The Stephen Burridge trained Lim's Rally brought some strong form to the table, however he was clearly no match for his fellow three-year-old.

Having started the equal favourite with the latter, A La Victory jumped fairly from one of the outside stalls before Corey Brown elected to ease him out of the early speed battle.

Settled towards the rear, A La Victory was forced to cover ground but always travelled well under Brown and relished the fast early tempo — leader Golden Mission recorded 35.20 seconds for the first 600m.

Still tenth on-straightening, Brown pulled A La Victory to the outside, tracking Lim's Rally passing the 400m.

Travelling powerfully passing the 300m, A La Victory let down strongly and quickly ambled up to Lim's Rally with consummate ease.

Drawing on terms inside the 200m, A La Victory drew clear passing the 100m and raced away to score by close to three lengths.

Lim's Rally stuck on solidly along the inside, but was left found wanting over the concluding stages.

With such a strong early tempo, there was no surprise to see such decisive beaten margins with over five lengths back to fourth and over seven lengths back to seventh.

Of the eight races held on the turf track, A La Victory was comparatively marked over four lengths superior.

Having continued to make impressive ratings spikes last preparation, A La Victory has began right where he left off when recording a new career peak on Sunday.

Improving seven pounds on his previous best winning figure, A La Victory looks to have more up his sleeve in what was just his 10th career start.

A winner of five, A La Victory's only two blemishes in his career have came over the mile with the three-year-old safely held in both.

However given the way he performed on Sunday, he gives the impression he will run a strong mile as he continues to mature with time.

Using Timeform predictive ratings A La Victory has between three and five pounds up his sleeve for his next outing and is definitely one for your black book.

Damon

The Mark Walker trained Damon failed to live up to market expectations in the second event, however he is definitely a galloper worth sticking with.

A real eye catcher on debut behind Timo, the son of O'Reilly was again impressive without winning, flashing home to finish third.

Jumping away only fairly, Damon was urged along to settle midfield along the rail.

Tracking up nicely approaching the 800m, Damon was then held up on heels and was unable to improve approaching the turn into the straight.

Shuffled right back to 11th passing the 400m, Damon was left with an impossible task but worked home powerfully to beaten less than two lengths.

Ridden by Corey Brown, Damon really did his best work late and with any luck in running he arguably should have won.

Improving five pounds on his debut performance, Damon again recorded time figures well ahead of the bare form and is bred to keep improving over further.

Still quite a raw package a maiden win doesn't appear far away and he is definitely a galloper worth following.

Lim's Sincere

On Friday night debutant Lim's Sincere defied the market when leading throughout in the sixth event.

Having failed to really set the track alight at the trials, Lim's Sincere SP at $34-1, however apprentice rider Syafiq Hazman had other ideas when leading his rivals a merry dance.

After jumping away well from the middle draw, Lim's Sincere took up the running although was unable to find the rail with the Leticia Dragon trained Anak Penang kicking up along the inside.

Held together nicely passing the 600m, Lim's Sincere booted four lengths clear passing the 300m and while tiring late, he held on to score by close to two lengths.

From the five races held on the polytrack, Lim Sincere was comparatively marked over two-and-a-half lengths superior to his rivals and was only marked marginally outside standard for his last 600m.

An impressive debut in defeating the older horses and while not marked up to the heights of some of Singapore's leading two-year-olds he still creates plenty of interest moving forward.