The Selangor Turf Club has witnessed an influx of new horses from overseas in the past few months, especially Australia adding some new dimensions to the local form lines.
As the club's roster numbers continue to build, several of those new arrivals will be displaying their wares for the first time over the two days of racing this weekend.
Some of these former Australian gallopers enter Malaysia with good form from strong racing jurisdictions and one of those will clash with one of the country's rising stars in the 1020m Class 3 contest on Saturday (Race 7). PACIFIC ENERGY, formerly known as Appointed when racing for Melbourne Cup winning trainer Anthony Freedman, is a two time metropolitan winner from eight starts. The four year old goes into Saturday's contest with 53kg and is a chance of landing the prize first up for the David Kok stable. However, the biggest stumbling block is the locally unbeaten FRIGHT, which heads the weights at 59kg. One of the most impressive gallopers this season, FRIGHT has won three from three by an average margin of 4.5 lengths but this is no doubt his toughest assignment to date. Blessed with natural early pace, the highly talented performer has made a huge impact in a short space of time breaking two course records in the process. FRIGHT goes up against a couple of seasoned campaigners resuming in NO MORE DELAY and STOP THE WATER, both gallopers boasting excellent first up records.
Another former Australian galloper to watch for is BANKER' PRETTY, which debuts for the Johnny Lim stable in the 1400m Class 4A contest (Race 9). Originally prepared by astute conditioner Philip Stokes in Victoria, the five year old mare posted three wins and four minor placings from ten starts, including successive victories in South Australia prior to spelling back in May. The Australia form for BANKER'S PRETTY stacks up well against the more seasoned locals and judging by her effortless three length trial win Tuesday week ago, she will be hard to beat. Another former Aussie returning is VALVOIS, another galloper with a good first up record (4:2-2-0) which posted the one victory from six runs during his first local preparation. VALVOIS performed well against tough opposition in races like the Listed Selangor Mile (4th) and Merdeka Cup (5th), where he ran over the 1800m trip for the first time prior to spelling at the end of August.
RED DRAGONFLY will appreciate the downgrade in the 1400m Class 4A (Race 10) and looks hard to beat. With a record of two wins from four starts in the grade, the five year old is coming off an unplaced effort in the Listed NZB Ready To Run Open Championship where he simply had no luck from an outside draw. Trainer Ooi Chi Chin has prepared at least one winner in the past four meetings at SLTC and the trend should continue come Saturday. The big danger is the locally unbeaten Forever Sixty One , which is coming off an impressive 4.25 length win here over 1275m a fortnight ago. The lightly raced four year old debuted with a win back in April defeating promising type Thunderous, which has progressed into a Class 2 performer this year. With his early speed and tenacity to respond when challenged, FOREVER SIXTY-ONE is capable of scoring again despite stepping up to the 1400m for the first time.
