Shirvo can put up a Supreme Challenge

With Antipodean lining up in the highlight event at Sungai Besi on Nov 2, all eyes could be on the highest-rated galloper at 112 points.

The Simon Dunderdale-trained five-year-old is a favourite with racegoers. A winner of the 2024 Group 1 Selangor Gold Cup (1,600m), the son of Derryn prevailed by a neck in the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale Championship (1,400m) at his last start on Oct 12.

He will be all the rage in the Sports Toto Supreme Challenge Cup (1,400m) in Kuala Lumpur, but hold your horses as there are a few others in the 12-horse field who have the ability to spoil his party.

Right up there and heading the challengers is Shirvo.

Bright and early on the morning of Oct 28, Shirvo was out on the training track where, after a round of cantering, he turned on the after-burners to run the 600m in 39.8sec.

It was a workout which would have pleased Malaysian trainer Wayne Lim.

The son of Not A Single Doubt already has two wins and four seconds from 12 starts.

Both his wins came recently in Enrich Stakes A contests in Ipoh, but the Australian-bred also has a liking for the Selangor circuit where he ran second twice – both times over 1,200m – in February 2025.

The six-year-old galloper was in his element when he pulled off that race-to-race double.

He first came from fourth at the top of the stretch to beat his rivals by ¾ length over the 1,400m on Sept 20.

Lim then sent him out again on Oct 4 and Shirvo ran away over the 1,200m, winning by a convincing 5½ lengths.

Shirvo has got good speed in that engine of his, and he deserves plenty of thought when you are mapping out your strategy for the Supreme A feature event coming up.

Another runner worth some thought in that same contest on Nov 2 is Faithful Leader.

The son of Super One was out on the training track where he disposed of the 600m in 39.2sec.

Prepared by Lim’s brother, Richard, Faithful Leader is another honest horse.

To date, the seven-year-old gelding has won three races and was second on four occasions. That, from just 14 starts.

Faithful Leader picked up his first win for Lim at Kranji in a Class 4 race (1,000m) on Jan 7, 2023.

He then bagged his next two victories in Malaysia, where he scored in a Class 3 event (1,100m) in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 31 and in the Perak Turf Club Community Shield (1,200m) in Ipoh on May 11.

Before all that, Faithful Leader raced four times in Australia when known as Mr Burgundy.

He opened his account in a 1,100m race second-up on Nov 24, 2021, and finished third twice before relocating to Singapore in 2022.

On current form, he does look like a candidate for those novelty bets on Nov 2.

Away from the Supreme Challenge Cup, the Open Novice event over the 1,200m should generate plenty of interest.

Heading the cast is Pantong.

The six-year-old Australian-bred by Pendragon was out on the training track where he ran the 600m in an easy 41.8sec.

Under the care of Dunderdale, Pantong went all the way on his Malaysian debut. That was in a similar sort of race to the upcoming one on Nov 2.

That day, when ridden by visiting South African rider Kaidan Brewer, he won by 1½ lengths.

At his second and latest start on Oct 5, Pantong featured in that Dunderdale trifecta when he finished third behind stablemates Fright and Guru Fight in the Max2 race (1,200m).

Ridden by Harmeet Singh Gill, he did not have much luck in the running and had to race wide for most of the trip.

At 62 points, Pantong goes into the race as the highest-rated runner. While he meets some in-form runners like Smart Cat and Easy On Me, Dunderdale has him ticking over nicely and a second win at this, his third start, could be forthcoming.

brian@sph.com.sg