Keep a close eye on Mt Niseko

If you are on the lookout for a talented newcomer to Kranji racing, scribble the name Mt Niseko into your little black book.

The four-year-old, who has yet to take his spot in a race in Singapore, looks like he has taken to his new surroundings really well and is ready to show us just what he can do.

Sent to the trials on Tuesday morning, he would have drawn the oohs and ahhs from those who took in the three hit-outs.

You see, Mt Niseko did not just win his trial.

He won it in style, coming from a long way back to swamp his rivals over the closing stages of that 1,000m dash on the Polytrack.

Ridden by Vlad Duric, Mt Niseko was fourth on settling and he stayed there as the field cleared the 600m marker.

Into the straight and, with 300m to the post, he gradually began to eat into the lead held by Auspicious King – the mount of Bernardo Pinheiro – and Raging Rabbit, who was partnered by Saifudin Ismail.

A furlong out and still hugging the rails, Duric decided it was time to rattle the opposition.

Peeling his mount out for a run, he spotted daylight and angled Mt Niseko to the gap which had opened up.

Mt Niseko did not need a second invitation.

Taking the bit, he hit the front and put the trial to bed, winning by a head while being hard held.

Mt Niseko clocked 1min 01.08sec for the trip.

It was not a really fast time but the youngster showed clear intent.

You could tell, if the “handbrakes” were released, he might have shaved off a second – maybe more.

Prepared by Tim Fitzsimmons, Mt Niseko can only get better as the reigning champion trainer guides him to his first race.

A son of I Am Invincible, Mt Niseko arrived at Kranji from Victoria, Australia, where he did most of his racing as a three-year-old.

You could say he scored his “most significant” victory on Jan 4 when he won an A$37,500 (S$33,000) race against his own age group.

That was at Geelong over the 1,200m.

As a two-year-old, he had won a sprint on the same track. That was a Maiden event over the 1,235m.

Right now, Mt Niseko looks like a horse with above-average potential.

With natural progression, he could have a good year or so in his adopted home.

An unraced galloper who served notice with a big showing on Tuesday morning was China Pearl.

One of four runners in the opening trial, the New Zealand-bred was never in the reckoning for 900m of the 1,000m sprint.

After being slow out of the gates, his jockey, Zyrul Nor Azman, settled him in last place and the three-year-old seemed to be enjoying it there.

He was still in last position when the field straightened for home.

Then, suddenly, with less than a furlong to travel, China Pearl must have realised that he was a racehorse.

And so he did what racehorses are supposed to do – he lengthened strides and gobbled up the ground.

Up in the saddle, Zyrul sat still as his mount – in a blistering finish – gave his rivals a bad case of wind-burn.

China Pearl would eventually take the trial by a length.

His time of 1min 02.09sec was far from spectacular, but his trainer, Donna Logan, would have been extremely happy with the way things had panned out.

Logan would take a trifecta from that trial as she also trained the runner-up Commander (Yusoff Fadzli) and third-placed Arabian Nights (Pinheiro).

If there were horses to take note of in the third and final trial of the morning, the pair who caught the eye were the first two who made it home – Geobels Glory and Montana Flash.

Both tracked the pace right until the 250m mark when they joined in the fray to make it five in a row heading for home.

In a swift move, they put the early speedsters – Otahuhu and My Boss – to the sword.

And in that two-horse dash to the line, the Fitzsimmons-trained Geobels Glory (Ronnie Stewart) came away from Logan’s Montana Flash (Louis-Philippe Beuzelin) to score by a length in 1:01.05sec.

Geobels Glory’s only start on July 15 was uneventful. He took fifth spot in that race won by Strike Gold. He can only improve.

As for one-time winner Montana Flash, that trial over the 1,000m was impressive.

He will be better suited to something longer, so watch and wait until Logan slots him into something like 1,400m and beyond.

That could be when he gets his second win.