Rumeur has it a win is near for Siva racer

There was a strong Rumeur going around in Sungai Besi on April 1 – and that was no April Fool’s day joke.

It was the racehorse Rumeur who worked up a storm at a training gallop on that morning, clocking a breezy 37.9sec over 600m on a track rated “good”.

On that fluent workout, and his more than decent second to Mega Valor at his last start on March 15, the Mongolian Khan five-year-old would be overdue for a second career win.

Trainer Siva Kumar’s New Zealand-bred may well achieve that in the Class 4A (1,300m) race, the penultimate event in Kuala Lumpur’s 10-race programme on April 5.

Rumeur (French for rumour) has so far proved to be a really good horse to have in the yard.

Since relocating from the Land of the Long White Cloud where he won a 1,600m race at Tauranga, Rumeur has settled in well.

From just seven race starts – all at Sungai Besi – his record reads: One Win, one second, one third and two fourth placings.

It goes to show he has been filling up the kitty rather well – and that, sooner rather than later, he could well add to that sole win on Nov 26 over the shorter 1,150m in similar Class 4A company.

With that solid piece of work under his girth, come April 5, Rumeur will be humming along at the business end of things.

Siva has entered just a small team of five for the meeting coming up and Rumeur looks to be the pick of the lot.

Drawing from the other workouts on April 1, trainer Nick Selvan could be looking at controlling the proceedings in that 1,200m race for Class 4B runners.

He has got a couple of good ones facing off in the sprint and, in separate gallops on the training track, both Our Secret Weapon and Rhythm Of Zen drew attention to their chances.

With Jackson Low Kang Cheng in the saddle, Our Secret Weapon ran the 600m in a pleasing time of 39.5sec, with the eight-year-old 10-time winner by Outreach wrapping up the short sprint trip on a tight rein.

As for Rhythm Of Zen, the four-time winner went even faster, clocking 37.6sec. The Time Test five-year-old had in-form rider Ruzaini Supien doing the navigating.

That fourth event on the 10-race card is a nice even contest – and both Selvan runners should have their share of fans.

Aside from their work on the training track, both gallopers have recently been running good races.

Our Secret Weapon led all the way to win a 1,275m race on Feb 7.

Rhythm Of Zen’s last six runs have produced a win on Feb 18, two second-place finishes on Jan 25 and Feb 8 and a couple of third placings.

He will certainly shake up proceedings on April 5 and, in the process, fully test his stablemate.

Elsewhere, it could be worth your while to be a friend of Starboy’s.

Down to contest Race 5 – the 1,020m sprint for Class 4B runners, the five-time winner was not asked to do much on the training track.

Indeed, Starboy’s work was restricted to some serious cantering and, up in the saddle, race-jockey Jordan Mallyon, ensured that the Shooting To Win five-year-old did just what was necessary – nothing more, nothing less.

Right now, trainer Aloysius Hamsha must know he has a good one in the barn.

After opening proceedings with Variant on March 29, Donna Logan’s former assistant trainer will be hoping he keeps the mood in his yard upbeat.

brian@sph.com.sg