7YO Katak is as sharp as ever

Katak. The name sounds like a war cry of sorts. Well, to date and at Kranji, Katak the racehorse has been a fierce competitor and one not to be taken lightly.

Although he has not been to the races in more than three months, no rust has settled in.

We know that from his showing at the trials on Tuesday morning.

Ridden by Ricardo Le Grange’s stable apprentice Rozlan Nazam, Katak was in his element when pitted against his six rivals.

His class stood out from the start, as he quickly muscled his way to the front.

He was soon free-rolling in the lead and, while the talented Knippenberg tried to make inroads, Katak gave him the cold shoulder.

Six hundred metres out and he was still bowling along as Yusoff Fadzli, on Knippenberg, and Bruno Queiroz, on Teardrops, tried to cut into his advantage.

While Tim Fitzsimmons’ mare Teardrops would lose some steam in the home stretch, the Donna Logan-trained Knippenberg stuck to his guns.

A furlong from home, he attacked Katak and they matched stride for stride.

In the end, the 107-point rater got the verdict when he nosed out Knippenberg, who holds down 67 rating points.

In winning that hit-out, Katak broke the minute-mark, clocking 59.73sec for the Polytrack 1,000m romp.

Yes, on Tuesday morning, it was all about Katak.

The seven-year-old has won three from 12 at Kranji – but it should have been more.

Then again, he has raced only three times this season and his last two runs were both in Singapore Group 1 races.

On March 25, he went down to Lim’s Kosciuszko in the Raffles Cup.

Two months later, on May 20, he had to settle for fourth in the Kranji Mile, which was taken out by none other than Lim’s Kosciuszko.

Yes, those two defeats – against Kranji’s best – did not cast any blemishes on Katak’s reputation.

Well, one thing we know from that trial is that Katak is still a potent force at Kranji and, with several big races coming up soon, his stock could grow even more.

From that same trial, we also saw a good run by fourth-placed Ghalib.

Ridden by Manoel Nunes, he was hopelessly last on settling but moved into fourth spot at the 600m mark.

He held that position right to the finish line and he must have given Nunes a good feel.

Ghalib, who races off 64 rating points, is one-for-one, having won on debut on Aug 13.

Keep him on your radar. He should be winning more races.

Ten. That is the number of trials War Room has had since that debut in January, 2022.

And counting the one on March 8, 2022, it was the second time he has put a win on the board.

War Room is an enigma. He came with a big reputation of having scored three wins from three starts – all over 1,000m – in South Africa.

So, it was no surprise when knowledgeable racegoers sent him out as the $16 top pick in that Class 4 race over 1,200m.

Then under the care of Michael Clements, he never had a look-in.

After holding down third spot in the early part of the race, he had nothing in reserve when the action got hot.

He eventually finished 10th in that race won by Brutus.

Well, his connections have had a long time to mull over what it could have been.

But they would have been pleased with what they saw of him in that second trial on Tuesday morning.

Now residing at Tim Fitzsimmons’ yard, War Room was having a 1,000m test and a blinkers test. He passed both with flying colours.

Ridden by Simon Kok and jumping from the innermost chute, he was neatly into his stride and he was first to make that sweeping left-hander on the far side.

For a while at the 600m, he surrendered the lead to Romantic who, ridden by his trainer Richard Lim, made a sweeping move wide out.

But War Room had possession of the rails and, that being the quickest way home, he reclaimed the lead and stubbornly held off Romantic to take the trial by a head.

A nice-looking chestnut, War Room clocked 1min 00.71sec for the trip.

It was not the quickest of the morning. But it was a topic of conversation.

And the question bugging racegoers concerned War Room’s future.

When would he return to racing?

Well, that is for Fitzsimmons to decide. But when he does, it could be worth your while to be in his corner.