Boy Xander wins his trial with authority

It has been exactly 31 days since Boy Xander was trotted to the start, loaded into the gates and sent off on a journey.

His previous five races going back to Oct 13 were full of merit. A win, a second, a third and two fourths. How is that for consistency?

And now he gets to add another “1” to his resume.

That, after winning his trial on Jan 28.

Ridden by Andre da Silva, the son of Shamexpress was all-conquering over the 1,000m and he took the trial with loads of authority beating Buuraq Sixty-One by half a length while clocking a fairly decent 1min 1.89sec.

Yes, trainer Cheng Han Yong has got a good one and when he next sends Boy Xander off to the races we might just see the seven-year-old post a fourth career win.

Another one who can be followed with some confidence is The Wild Goal.

Racegoers will remember him as Lucky Goal.

That was when trainer Jason Ong raced him at Kranji where he scored two wins over 1,200m.

Now racing as The Wild Goal, he caught the eye when taking Trial 2 by the narrowest of margins.

He clocked 1:02.83 when beating Kim Kim who, until moving over to Nick Selvan’s Kuala Lumpur yard, was known as the iconic Ahorsewithnoname.

The Wild Goal made his Malaysian debut on Jan 14, finishing fourth to Friend Of Honour over 1,000m.

Right now the four-year-old by Shalaa looks to be in a good place and his progress should be monitored.

If ever there were two horses who look primed for their assignments on Jan 31, they would be Pacific General and Rhett Butler.

Both racers provided the action at the trials on Jan 27 when they were involved in a heads up-heads-down duel over the final furlong.

As it turned out, Pacific General – who had the services of Laercio de Souza – eventually nosed out Rhett Butler, the mount of Jackson Low Kam Cheng.

Until the pair began their skirmish at the furlong mark, they seemed content to stay away from the fight upfront where the leaders were going hell for leather on a track rated good.

But that fight was all over the moment the eventual winner and runner-up began their runs. In a flash, they made it a two-horse affair.

Pacific General – who always looked like a winning hope – made his move as did Rhett Butler who, until the 300m mark, could see them all from his spot at the rear of the field.

The pair finished the trial in what looked like a deadheat but the print of the finish showed Pacific General getting the verdict.

Because of the easy pace in the initial part of the sprint, the pair clocked a relatively slow time of 1:04.20.

Still, hats off to Rhett Butler whose run from the back of the pack was impressive.

Prepared for the races by Nick Selvan, the former Donna Logan-trained racer will see action in Race 2 on Jan 31.

It is a Class 5 (A) race over 1,700m and Selvan will be looking for a good showing from this former Kranji galloper.

As for Pacific General, the trial was his third since Dec 31 and he looks near the top of his game.

A one-time winner at Kranji where he was trained by Tan Kah Soon, Pacific General ran the last 600m of that 1,000m hit-out in 37.8sec.

He will be in the firing line when Jerlyn Seow trots him to the start for Race 9 on Jan 31.

Trainer Charles Leck has picked a winnable sort of race for his five-year-old and it will not come as a huge surprise to see the son of Kodiac notch up his first success in Malaysia.

brian@sph.com.sg