War and piece, or finding right gear

Debut winner War Commander's follow-up runs were a bit of a letdown, but trainer Ricardo Le Grange was a lot more buoyed by his sparkling barrier trial win on Tuesday.

Taking up the running from the get-go, the blinkered three-year-old chestnut kept rolling along under jockey Wong Chin Chuen to score easily. Though not fully stretched, he still ran a slick time of 59.31 seconds.

The big gap contrasted with his last two starts over 1,400m where the Australian-bred son of US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah led, but faded rather quickly when collared.

Following a gutsy debut win over 1,200m back in January, War Commander was stepped up both in trip and class. But he did not quite measure up, even if Le Grange said he had excuses.

"He was a victim of circumstances," he said. "Second-up, he jumped from a wide draw and, at his last start, he was interfered with, and he's a free-running horse who can't lose momentum."

Nevertheless, better was expected from the Paolo Mendoza-owned gelding, and the South African trainer is hoping blinkers are the answer.

He brought in the headgear for the first time at Tuesday's barrier trials and, clearly, War Commander does not dislike them.

It turned out he was not too unfamiliar with them from his racing days in Australia as Son Of Pharoah.

It therefore stood to reason that the shades would come back on at this Sunday's $75,000 Novice race over 1,200m on Polytrack.

"He raced in Australia in blinkers, but I didn't think he needed them here," said Le Grange, who is one win shy of 200 winners.

"I watched his last start, and I then thought he may need them after all, just to sharpen him up. He galloped very well with them and his trial was also pretty decent."

Wong may be taking his first race ride on War Commander, but that does not mean he cannot get a gauge of the blinkers' usefulness.

"I've never ridden him in a race, so I don't know him in full racing mode.

"But, since Ricardo put me on at his last couple of gallops, I've ridden him, both with and without blinkers on," said Wong.

"I feel he's sharper when he has the blinkers on. In trackwork, he can be quite strong, but I was very happy with his trial yesterday.

"He did it very easy and also ran a good time."

War Commander has thus far raced only on turf at Kranji, but watching him scorch through the synthetic track on Tuesday must have given peace of mind.

"We're bringing him back in distance and on the Polytrack for the first time. He's by American Pharoah who was a great dirt horse," said Le Grange.

"It's a Novice race worth $75,000. We'll take a chance.

"All's been looking good, until the barrier draw, which is obviously, not fantastic."

"Not fantastic" rhymed more with "alamak" to Wong.

"We've drawn 12, which is not good at all," said the in-form Malaysian hoop.

"The speed will be on. As he's got good gate speed from what he showed me in his trial, I'll try my best to ride him forward or slot right behind the speed. But all that is to be confirmed with Ricardo."

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Tuesday's Kranji barrier trial results

TRIAL 1

1 Super Speed (WH Kok)

2 Sousui (O Chavez)

3 Victory Joy (I Saifudin)

4 Turf Beauty

5 Trusted One (J Bayliss)

Margins and time:

Hd, 3, ns, 3 (1min 01.53sec)

1 Relentless (M Nunes)

2 Stenmark (Chavez)

3 Crystal Sixty (PH Seow)

4 Try Mak Mak (T Rehaizat)

Margins and time:

1/2, 1/2, 8 1/4 (1:00.17)

1 War Commander (CC Wong)

2 Hamama (L Beuzelin)

3 Salamence (B Woodworth)

4 Royalty (TH Koh)

5 Master Player (Chavez)

6 In All His Glory ( Nunes)

Margins and time:

4 1/2, 3, nk, shd, 3 3/4 (59.31sec)

1 Qaidoom (Beuzelin)

2 Diamond Mine ( Kok)

3 Hearts Of Gold (I Amirul)

4 Loving Babe

5 Lord Of Cloud (Koh)

Margins And Time:

5 1/4, 31/4, 1/2, 73/4 (1:01.23)