Surpass Natural big chance in Merlion

South African jockey Juan Paul van der Merwe has yet to land a feature race at Kranji, but he goes into tomorrow's $250,000 Group 2 Merlion Trophy with the hope of breaking the duck.

All he is wishing for is that his mount, Surpass Natural, can upstage hot favourite Bold Thruster in the Polytrack 1,200m feature.

Bold Thruster, the highest-rated of the nine contenders, looks hard to beat with his classy record of five Group 3 successes among his nine victories.

But van der Merwe knows his mount is also in dazzling form.

All he needs is some further progress from his last-start winner to give the much-vaunted favourite a run for the money.

Trained by Leticia Dragon, Surpass Natural is a horse with a future.

The prolific sprinter's record of six wins from nine starts, including his first five in a row, is testament to that.

Returning from the Covid-19-enforced break on July 26, the five-year-old bounced straight back from three Group 3 defeats to score in a Class 2 race over the Polytrack 1,100m in fine fashion.

He defied a four-wide trip, clapping on the hot early sectionals to clear out for an impressive one-length win.

In the irons for the second time - the first resulting in a seventh placing in the New Year Cup - van der Merwe felt the full rush of that rousing win.

"He really won a cracker last time out," said the lightweight jockey, who is enjoying his second season in Singapore.

He needs only two winners to equal last year's 14-winner tally, with a few more months to go and losing three months during the racing shutdown.

"Bold Thruster is the favourite and will be difficult to beat," he added.

"But my horse is well, his work has been good, even if we've just kept him ticking over.

"But he will have to reproduce that form at his last start to be competitive."

The jockey knows too well that on handicap, Surpass Natural will have the disadvantage, but just hopes that his mount can come into his own on race day.

With Bold Thruster rated at 107 and Surpass Natural at 91, there is a difference of 16 points.

This equates to 8kg on handicapping terms. But the weight-for-age conditions of the race pit all runners level at 57.5kg.

Van der Merwe knows his horse is raring to go and, if that is still not enough, then he will have to really "surpass" himself.

One good thing is that Surpass Natural has drawn better than Bold Thruster - in Gate 5, compared to Gate 9.

So van der Merwe has a mind to make full use of the way the cards have been dealt.

"Bold Thruster is quick, so is my horse. We have drawn better and I hope Bold Thruster will have to work a bit harder to go forward," said van der Merwe, a winner of the Grade 1 J&B Met in 2016 with long shot Smart Call back home.

A win tomorrow will earn the 29-year-old his first Group success in Singapore.