The shutters are almost up on this weeklong trackwork among the International contenders, but clockers were still kept on their toes now and again on this low-key Friday morning at Kranji.

No fewer than five Singapore hopefuls to the two International Group 1 races on May 17 stepped out in the same barrier trial on Thursday morning in one of the last touch-ups to the home team with only just over a week to go.

Star sprinter Zac Spirit is forced to give weight all around, but still should prove very hard to beat in the Group 3 Kranji Sprint this evening.

Although lining up over a trip short of his best, you can never ignore class and expect Quechua to be very hard to beat in the ninth event at Singapore this evening.

Trainer Patrick Shaw’s stellar second half of season 2014 continued on Sunday with the consistent Johnny Guitar proving too classy for his rivals in the final Group race for the year, the $125,000 Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes over 1700m.