From the start to the end, the money was on only two horses and the race was run to script.
Smart debut runner-up Hugo opened as the odds-on favourite but was overtaken by Siam Vipasiri. But, at barrier-rise, Hugo regained favouritism at $10 for a win to $12 for Siam Vipasiri.
True to form, the two favourites commanded the $85,000 Restricted Maiden event over 1,200m on turf in Race 2 at Kranji last night, with Siam Vipasiri producing a brilliant turn of foot to score convincingly from Hugo.
Siam Vipasiri, trained by Michael Clements who was not on hand to see his three-year-old filly race as he was in Australia, was quick at the jump, but the Stephen Gray-trained Hugo showed top speed to lead under jockey Daniel Moor.
Jockey Glen Boss parked Siam Vipasiri within reach of the leader, with the Bruce Marsh-trained newcomer On The Razz and the Shane Baertschiger-trained Lincoln City two lengths behind.
Siam Vipasiri got up to a neck of Hugo at the midway stage and the duo straightened up nicely clear of the rest. When Boss asked at the 200m mark, Siam Vipasiri opened up in style to beat Hugo by 31/4 lengths in 1min 10.79sec for the 1,200m on the Short Course D.
Trainer Donna Logan's pair of newcomers, The Jeweller and Thunder Dragon, ran on well to finish third and fourth respectively.
Owned by Thai outfit Pupetch Racing Stable, Siam Vipasiri showed promise on debut when second in the fourth leg of the Singapore Golden Horseshoe Series for two-year-olds - the Inglis Ready2Race Stakes over 1,200m on July 1. But she was a tad disappointing the the final leg - the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe over 1,200m on July 13 - when she mis-strode and finished seventh. On both occasions, she was drawn awfully wide.
Clements' assistant trainer, Michael White, labelled Siam Vipasiri as a top-liner three-year-old in the stable.
"She has always been a horse we felt was our benchmark three-year-old, even though we had a few that came along and probably surprised a bit. But she's always been what we thought would be our top-liner and, yes, she has a very bright future.
"She's a real leggy 1,400m to a mile sort of filly. She's probably six to 12 months away from being near her best, so anything she does now is a bonus."
Boss, too, rated Siam Vipasiri as a horse with a good future.
"She's a real intelligent filly. She obviously had some good form last preparation but had bad draws and whatnots. They didn't have much luck with her, obviously through bad draws but she obviously showed she has got a lot of ability," said the Australian jockey. "She had a great comeback, put on some weight and put on a bit of muscles. She has got a very bright future because the intelligence in her obviously will take her a long way."
Boss also heaped praises on Siam Vipasiri's quick turn of foot when asked in the final 200m.
"What you see there is what you get. When you let her down, she really lengthens her strides and she does that with no effort. She really gives you a really nice feel when you let her go. Like I've said, only improvement to come, nice filly and Michael Clements' horses, they keep going up when the bar keeps going up," he said.
Friday's South Africa results
RACE 1
1st 9 In A Perfect World ($11-$6)
2nd 6 Adalberto ($5.10)
3rd 5 Tundra ($7)
4th 4 King Of Promise
Forecast $15 Place Forecast (6-9) $7, (5-9) $6, (5-6) $4
Tierce $38 Trio $9 Quartet $174
Scratching: 1 Chanone's Theory
RACE 2
1st 4 Super Socks ($24-$7)
2nd 5 Barbarella Nights ($7)
3rd 2 Rock The Cot ($9)
4th 7 Oracle Kingdom
Forecast $28 Place Forecast (4-5) $6, (2-4) $9, (2-5) $8
Tierce $214 Trio $34
Quartet No winner ($338 jackpot carried forward to next race)
RACE 3
1st 14 Latescent ($145-$29)
2nd 11 Lateral's Flash ($8)
3rd 4 Fine Lady ($11)
4th 6 Hither Green
Forecast $157 Place Forecast (11-14) $46, (4-14) $43, (4-11) $12
Tierce No winner ($1,524 carried forward) Trio $468 Quartet No winner ($458 carried forward)
Scratchings: 1 Royal Kiss, 3 Abbeleigh, 9 Press Release
RACE 4
1st 3 Late Autumn ($32-$9)
2nd 9 Apoc ($9)
3rd 1 Tubular Bell ($11)
4th 8 Floating On Water
Forecast $29 Place Forecast (3-9) $8, (1-3) $24, (1-9) $17
Tierce $587 Trio $89
Quartet No winner ($1,016 carried forward)
RACE 5
1st 2 Free Agent ($20-$5.10)
2nd 3 Wish To Land ($8)
3rd 5 Desert Chief ($11)
4th 6 Rosslyn Chapel
Forecast $18 Place Forecast (2-3) $6, (2-5) $10, (3-5) $10
Tierce $157 Trio $34
Quartet $560
Scratching: 8 Leadman
Results of Races 6 and 7 were not available at press time. Log on to www.turfclub.com.sg for the results.
