Brown sees big things ahead

They had big plans for her. What's New, who won the first two legs of last year's Singapore Triple Crown Series, was headed for the EW Barker Trophy and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup - and, in both those races, What's New was expected to put in big showings.

Alas, the gutsy mare was unplaced in both rich races.

On the upside, she had valid reasons for those below-par showings.

"If you watch her replays in the EW Barker and the QEII Cup, nothing went right for her," said her trainer, Cliff Brown.

"She had excuses and, hopefully, that break since the Barker would have done her a world of good. We'll find out where she is at in the Fortune Bowl."

The daughter of Casino Prince certainly met with a lot of traffic problems in both the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup over 1,800m and Group 2 EW Barker Trophy over the shorter 1,400m.

After drawing the innermost gate in the QEII Cup, travelling on the fence, she clipped heels with Mr Clint and lost considerable ground.

Three weeks later, she was again tightened for room, both at the start and the concluding stages.

Tomorrow afternoon, Brown saddles two runners in Race 9 - the $175,000 Fortune Bowl. What's New and Gold Strike.

As planned by the Australian handler, the Chinese New Year feature race will be the starting point to their 2020 campaigns and serve as a guide to their current form following the break.

Going on their last 2019 runs, Gold Strike gives the impression he has more upsides.

An Irish import, Gold Strike always played second fiddle to his stablemate in the ratings, but the son of Iffraaj bridged the gap in the Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup with a flying second to Mr Clint.

A hike of seven points in the ratings saw him leapfrog over What's New to now sit on 90 points, two clear of the mare.

Tomorrow's 1,400m trip might be on the sharp side for Gold Strike, but Brown's not about to rule him out. The main concern for him is the depth of the race.

"Gold Strike put in a huge run in the Gold Cup. He trialled very well last week and he's in good shape," said Brown.

"It'd be interesting to see where he is at, with regards to Countofmontecristo and the other good horses in this race.

"Then again, there is still a long way to go for him. The better races at the end of the year (Raffles Cup, QEII Cup and Singapore Gold Cup) are his main targets.

"Still, both What's New and Gold Strike are in the pink of health and that first race tomorrow will tell me exactly where they're at."

With the special weight conditions set for the Fortune Bowl, both horses will be lightly weighted.

Brown has booked lightweight jockeys in Patrick Moloney and Juan Paul van der Merwe on What's New (54.5kg) and Gold Strike (52kg) respectively.

Both horses put in solid gallops in their workouts and will be ticking like time bombs tomorrow.