Pacific stable’s trio attract attention

Already leading the trainers’ ranks with nine meetings done and dusted, Michael Clements could be heading for another good afternoon on Sunday.

Right now, he has posted 10 winners. It is just a slim lead.

Just one winner separates him from Steven Burridge, with Tim Fitzsimmons in close attendance with eight.

But it could widen considerably after Sunday.

Clements has entered a compact team of 10 for the 12-race meeting and all were out flexing their muscles on the training track on Tuesday morning.

Prominent among them were three horses who race in the orange-and-white colours of Pacific Stable.

They were Pacific Hero, Pacific Bao Bei and Pacific Angel.

Jockey Wong Chin Chuen, who is second on the premiership table with 14 winners, was the man aboard all three horses.

If one were to pick the plum from the pack, it would probably have to be Pacific Hero.

He went out at a fast clip, clocking 36.4sec in the company of stablemate Ejaz.

Although he has yet to face the starter in an actual race, Pacific Hero is already well-schooled and has shown signs of an early breakthrough.

We saw that at a trial on March 2.

That day, when ridden by Wong, he left his rivals wallowing in his wake, winning that 1,000m hit-out in a superb 58.83sec.

That was his first and last trial leading into Sunday’s race, in which he will face some rising talents over the trial trip of 1,000m.

Among them will be stablemate Petrograd.

A last-start winner, Petrograd had his winning jockey, Ronnie Stewart, doing the steering when he covered the 600m in a fluent 38.9sec.

But, come Sunday, all eyes will be on Pacific Hero.

A three-year-old by Exceed And Excel, he won one race in Australia under the name of Psychiatrist before being flown out to Singapore.

On the strength of his trial and his latest piece of work, Pacific Hero could win first-up at Kranji. And it would not surprise many.

The same applies to Pacific Bao Bei.

He, too, impressed on a training track when, in the company of stablemate Quarter Back, he ran out the 600m in 37.9sec.

A debut winner on Jan 23, Pacific Bao Bei was expected to make it two in a row when he faced the starter on Feb 25.

Race-goers thought so too – they sent him off as the raging $7 favourite.

Alas, on the day when all seemed to point to another win for the Clements’ yard, the four-year-old proved tardy out of the gates.

It would turn out to be his undoing.

He eventually went down by a nostril, beaten by the Daniel Meagher-trained Lim’s Puncak Jaya. That was over the mile.

Pacific Bao Bei goes over the 1,800m on Sunday and the extra 200m could work to his advantage. He will also meet his conqueror on 1.5kg better terms.

Then there was Pacific Angel.

Part of a Clements’ threesome, Pacific Angel matched strides with Coin Toss and Takanini over 600m in 37.1sec.

Not easily missed in the parade ring and in her races, the ghostly grey mare knows all there is to know about the game.

She already has three wins and six seconds from 15 starts, and there are plenty more where those came from.

Last time on Feb 25, she hit the front momentarily but was run down by stablemate Petrograd and the Tim Fitzsimmons-trained newcomer, Mimosas.

For sure, Pacific Angel will be a factor in the Class 4 (2) sprint over the 1,100m on the Polytrack.

Like the yard where she hails from, she is in the form of her life.