Ace Of Diamonds still sparkles
Singapore Guineas done and dusted, Le Grange’s star eyes more big wins
If you were at the racecourse on May 18, you would have seen Ace Of Diamonds put his rivals to shame when lifting the Group 2 Singapore Guineas.
Well, if you were having your morning coffee at the club on July 16, you would have had to peer through the rain to watch that same runner win his trial.
It was not as fluent a win or as stylish as it was in the Guineas, but Ace Of Diamonds did it with metronome precision, timing his run to perfection to beat a not-too-shabby Boardroom by a cool half-length.
Because of the adverse weather conditions which made the Polytrack a sloppy mess, Ace Of Diamonds was not able to make the record books – it took him 1min 2.19sec to cover the flying 1,000m.
Here is how it all panned out.
Ace Of Diamonds, who was ridden by Brazilian jockey Bruno Queiroz, cleared the chute without any problems and he quickly settled comfortably into the slipstream of his stablemate, Boardroom.
In third spot was On Line, who was partnered by his trainer, Richard Lim.
Even in the blurry conditions, you could see that Queiroz was in no hurry to lead the field and that he had his mount under a strong hold all the way down the back stretch.
It was only when the three-horse field straightened for the run home that he released his grip.
Ace Of Diamonds relished the freedom to gallop and, digging in, he quickly drew alongside Boardroom – the mount of Brazilian Bernardo Pinheiro – before skipping away to take the honours.
It was, one could say, typical of Ace Of Diamonds who, counting that romp on July 16, had won all of his previous four trials.
Back to that Guineas win, there was nothing lacking. It was complete. A true one-horse show.
Ace Of Diamonds had lolled near the rear for 600m of that 1,600m race. He moved up nicely at the top of the straight and, like a sharpshooter taking aim, soon had his rivals lined up like ducks on a shooting range.
Much like what we saw in that most recent trial, Queiroz pulled the trigger at the furlong mark and, from then on, the road was clear for the son of Swiss Ace.
It was his second big win, having earlier taken out the Group 3 Singapore Three-Year-Old Sprint on April 6.
In between, he ran third to Lim’s Bighorn in the Group 2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic (1,400m) on April 27.
Still a three-year-old until Aug 1, it is a pity that Ace Of Diamonds will have little time left until Oct 5 to show us his true potential.
And what a lot of potential there is. From just 11 outings, the New Zealand-bred gelding has finished outside the top three placings just twice and both were in the early days of his Kranji career.
Yes, he is not done yet. So the next time trainer Ricardo Le Grange nominates Ace Of Diamonds for a race – be it the Group 1 Raffles Cup on Aug 11 or the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sept 7 or, for that matter, any other contest – be sure you are in his corner.
As for Boardroom, who took second in the trial, his run was not too shabby.
He will be looking to make it back-to-back wins at his next start and, remembering the ease with which he took out that Novice race at his last start on June 22, he could be anything.
That day, over the 1,400m, the three-year-old grey Australian-bred colt made his rivals look jaded when he led all the way to win with 3½ lengths to spare.
It was a smashing victory and, from what we have seen of him in the past, we know he has a strong ticker in that big frame of his and more wins look forthcoming for the son of Justify.
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