Newcomer Hurrian a horse in a hurry

Newcomer Hurrian has been eamarked for the $400,000 Stewards' Cup over 1,600m, following his facile victory at Kranji last night.

But, to achieve his goal in the second leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old series on March 20, the four-year-old needs to enhance his rating with another success.

The first leg - the $175,000 Group 3 Silver Bowl over 1,400m - is slated for Race 9 this afternoon.

The final leg is the $1 million Group 1 Singapore Derby over 1,800m on April 18.

Trainer Jason Lim said he would enter Hurrian in a 1,400m race next week and, hopefully, gain a start with another win.

It may look a bit of a rush, but Lim reckoned that Hurrian had "an easy run". He would still see how his charge pulled up first before taking the next step.

Hurrian, who won his only New Zealand start when scoring over 1,200m on a heavy track at Avondale, looks a horse with potential.

Last night, the handsome bay gelding by Swiss Ace was strongly supported for his Kranji debut in the $50,000 Class 4 Div 2 event over the Polytrack 1,100m in Race 3 on the strength of his impressive trial on Feb 4.

Ridden by former champion Malaysian jockey Richard Lim, who is now assistant trainer to Jason Lim, Hurrian finished an eye-catching neck second to Iron Ruler in the 1,000m trial. He carried a hefty 71kg.

This prompted jockey Michael Rodd to request the ride - and he duly delivered with aplomb.

The Australian got Hurrian out swiftly and sat on the speed behind the Donna Logan-trained Good Luck Charm.

The Ricardo le Grange-trained Toosbies, a class dropper with good trial form, was on the inside of Hurrian. Then came the Lee Freedman-trained $13 favourite Tom Cat.

Rodd steered Hurrian past Good Luck Charm on straightening and took off with the wind in his sails.

Toosbies and Tom Cat gave chase but to no avail.

Hurrian cantered home by 13/4 lengths from Toosbies, who beat the late-closing Daniel Meagher-trained Lim's Knight by a nose.

The winner clocked 1min 05.29sec.

There was a good push for him late in the betting and he paid $16 for a win.

"He trialled very well, so we went into the race pretty confident," said Lim. "We told Michael to sit nicely, you know, the pace is fast and he did a good job on the horse."

Lim felt great for Everest Racing Stable, a new syndication made up of Taiwan and China interests.

"It's their first horse and they can look forward to seeing him run in some good races," he said.

He is keeping his fingers crossed that the horse would pull up well to try and qualify for the Stewards' Cup over 1,600m.

Rodd said he was really impressed with Hurrian's trial and quickly put his hand up for the ride.

"I saw Richard trialled him about a month ago and I asked if I could jump on him. He was very confident with the horse tonight. He's quite a good judge, Richard. Yeah, he's a quality horse," said the Melbourne Cup and Singapore Gold Cup-winning jockey.

"He's very long and scopey, but you saw the speed he showed at the barrier. He got over there very quickly, so he's quite athletic for a big horse.

"And, being by Swiss Ace, he does tend to like the Polytrack, so he's a nice breed to buy for up here. So, yeah, he's got plenty of scope about him.

"So I think Richard is looking to sort of steer him towards that Four-Year-Old series, that's another one to pop in the hat there. It may be a bit of a rush, but the money is there, you know, you've got to give it a go."