3 minute read

The Alvin Tan trained War Affair sent out a fierce warnings to his rivals on Sunday and successfully reaffirmed the notion that he is one of the best horses racing in Singapore.

Arguably at his most vulnerable over the shorter sprinting trip the son of O'Reilly still proceeded to steal the show in the first leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge when saluting easily over 1200m.

In what was just his second start for new trainer Alvin Tan, War Affair proceeded to race a lot closer to the speed than at his previous starts with Danny Beasley settling him down second from the rails draw.

Travelling beautifully throughout he quickly strode up to race leader Faaltless early in the straight before showing a good turn of foot to draw clear over the concluding stages to score by one-and-a-half lengths.

While not rated up to his career best from a Timeform perspective, the time recorded out of his victory was ultra impressive.

He was the only galloper successful in recording a time inside standard and comparatively was rated to be close to two lengths quicker than anything else on the night.

His closing sectional was simply electric and given he is only like to progress further throughout this campaign it is very unlikely that the beaten brigade will be able to turn the tables in the upcoming three-year-old events.

War Affair's performance notched up a Timeform rating of 102 which is five pounds above the five year average and also sees him rated higher than past winners Stepitup and Super Easy.

Since 2005, sprinting sensation Rocket Man remains the only other galloper rated as high as War Affair when taking out the feature event.

On this fact alone we can make the assumption that there is more in store for this son of O'Reilly and if able to follow similar progressive patterns to that of both Super Easy and Rocket Man a case can easily be made that by the end of this season he will not only be crowned the best three-year-old but also Singapore's best.

Though not likely to be at backable odds at his upcoming events the Singapore Guineas already appears to be well at his mercy and he appears very likely to join a long list of impressive winners including Stepitup, Super Easy, Gingerbread Man and Better Than Ever.

Former Australian based galloper Let Go Lenni also proved very impressive at Singapore on Sunday evening after he simply toyed with his rivals in the eighth event.

Proving successful in living up to his heavy market support the son of Stratum gave his backers a pain free watch with jockey Manuel Nunes easing him up 100m from home, costing to the line to score by three lengths.

Successful in improving 15 pounds on his latest victory at this track and trip two back, Let Go Lenni now appears to be on track to reach the heights which once saw him finish second to Epaulette in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude.

Given he did salute with such ease in the event he is expected to again springboard off this mark at his next start with no real definitive guide as to how much improvement he can make.

Since making his debut in Singapore he has improved 25 pounds, which further emphasises he is a galloper on an upward ratings spiral and it is not outlandish to think he won't improve a further five to 10 pounds at his next outing.

Given this rapid level of improvement it is also apparent that he is still ahead of the handicapper at this point and should prove extremely hard to beat at his next outing.

The Mark Walker trained Rise 'N' Shine broke back into the winner's stall in the final event and does appear a nice galloper moving forward.

Having saluted comfortably on debut the son of Zabeel was unable to run down Mia two back when he simply gave the leader too much start after it received an easy time in front.

Jumping away well from the good draw on Sunday, Rise 'N' Shine always appeared to travel well just off the speed and when peeled to the outside upon straightening he let down beautifully to draw clear of his rivals over the concluding stages.

Successful in recording a new career peak it is quite apparent that he should keep improving as he is tried over further as he is bred to be at his best at 2000m and beyond.

Likely to be seen at the mile at his next outing, he is a galloper who can be followed with confidence and also one to keep a close track of in the future.

While a fairly modest card on Friday night one galloper worth keeping a close eye on is the Michael Freedman trained Sure Win.

A victor of three of his six career starts to date the son of Stravinsky showed sharp improvement when notching up a new career peak.

Saluting easily by three-and-a-half lengths suggests more doe appear to be in store for this three-year-old and he should be followed closely.