Watch out for a classy show

With Tiger Roar, Mr Malek, Top Knight and Prosperous Return all shooting for honours in Race 11 on Sunday, So Hi Class might find it tough making the board.

Well, that is how it looks on paper.

But this is racing - and anything can happen.

The four horses mentioned do jump out from the page when you are scanning the racecard.

But it will be suicidal and tough on the wallet if one is to dismiss the chances of the Jason Ong-trained runner.

So Hi Class is capable of mixing it up with the best.

His rating of 84 puts him among the better horses plying their trade at Kranji and his seven wins suggest that he is quite a "high class" character.

Yes, he seems up to the task and, in preparation for the action coming up, Ong put him through his paces on the tracks on Wednesday.

With jockey Koh Teck Huat - or TH Koh as he is popularly known in racing circles - doing the navigating, So Hi Class stretched out freely.

Never extended by his rider or asked to do more than what was required, he clocked 42.5sec for the 600m.

It was a decent piece of work - more than sufficient to have him topped up for his Sunday jaunt.

Back to the race that is coming up. Here is the question: Can So Hi Class inflict damage to the egos of the four horses mentioned?

Between them, the "quartet" have won a whopping 30 races and they will surely figure in everyone's calculation.

But, as mentioned, ignore So Hi Class at your own peril.

We reckon he will run a big race.

Although most of his wins have been over the longer trips - like the mile and beyond - his last win, two starts back, was over the 1,400m.

Another "plus" is the weight on his back.

Or rather, the lack of it. He will carry just 52.5kg. It will feel like nothing on that 500-plus kilogram frame of his.

Then there is the Ong factor. He has been having a really good season and sits fifth on the trainers' log with 25 winners.

He has entered 10 horses for the meeting and So Hi Class could carry the hopes of the yard.

Ong has another good one in Healthy Baby.

He has been patiently nursing him along and Healthy Baby turned in a good gallop on Wednesday, running the 600m in 39.2sec.

Wong Chin Chuen was on the reins.

Healthy Baby had an inauspicious baptism of fire.

That was in early April and he reared when the gates opened.

That was it. He took no further part in the proceedings.

Two trials later, Ong sent him for his second start. He fared a tad better. He jumped with the field and ran out the 1,200m trip, finishing sixth.

Healthy Baby has come a long way since that outing in May.

He won a trial in late July and earlier this month, he put in a big effort to run second in another trial.

The "baby" has matured and muscled up. Come Race 5 on Sunday, he will not allow himself to get bullied.

Last start, on Aug 18, racegoers went at him like it were a one-horse race.

Thunder was seen to be THAT good - and he was.

Sent off as the $8 top pick, he flew home from near-last to justify all that confidence riding on him.

His batteries recharged, Tim Fitzsimmons sent his ward out for a training gallop on Wednesday and the six-year-old strolled over the 600m in 44.3sec.

Is Thunder ready to rumble again. We say, go bet on it.

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Yesterday's Kranji barrier trial results

TRIAL 1

1 Tigarous (T.H. Koh)

2 Super Convince (V. Duric)

3 Lim's Zoom (D. Beasley)

4 Ninetysix Warrior (K Faiz)

5 Sun Trek (B. Pinheiro)

6 The Shadow (R. Stewart)

7 Gold Zest

Margins and time:

Hd, 1/2, 1/2, 2 1/4, 1, 1

(1 min 01.35 sec)

1 Siam Warrior (R. Stewart)

2 Teardrops (Duric)

3 Wealth Elite (C.C. Wong)

4 Legend Of The Sun (Pinheiro)

5 Dream Alliance (J. Bayliss)

6 Water Rocket (T. Krisna)

7 Lim's Puncak Jaya (Beasley)

8 Lim's Passion (R. Fahmi)

Margins and time:

1 1/4, 1/2, hd, 1 3/4, shd, 8, 3 1/2

(1:00.44)

1 Ace Sovereign

2 Dixit Dominus (M. Ibrahim)

3 Deception (Bayliss)

4 Kick (Duric)

5 Lim's Knight (Beasley)

6 Golden Dash (Krisna)

7 Surge

8 Mr Hooper

Margins and time:

1/2, 4, 4, nk, 1 3/4, shd, 1/2

(1:00.26)