Stewards’ Cup looks like No. 8 for star

As was expected, on an overcast Wednesday morning, “super” horse Super Salute assured his fans that all was right for Sunday’s tilt at the Stewards’ Cup.

The Jason Lim-trained son of I Am Invincible made an appearance on the training tracks and with regular partner Manoel Nunes in the saddle, he breezed over the 600m in 39.4sec.

It was an honest piece of work from the seven-time winner, who is gunning for his eighth straight win.

Coming soon after he lifted the first leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 3 Silver Bowl (1,400m) with a dominant win over Golden Monkey on June 11, Super Salute will go into the second leg, the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1,600m), hotter than the hottest day in June.

And right now, few will bet against him pulling off that “eighth wonder”.

Of course, there will be triers – like Golden Monkey, who is looking for revenge after playing second fiddle to Super Salute in his last two starts.

From Tim Fitzsimmons’ yard, the handsome chestnut was in fine form when disposing of the 600m in 41.9sec. Golden Monkey just dug in and did what was necessary.

Come Sunday, he will walk into the parade ring looking every bit like he is ready to rumble.

Then again, if Super Salute could speak, he would surely have something to say about it.

Also from the Cup field, we had Fitzsimmons’ second Stewards’ Cup contender Dream Alliance making an appearance on the training tracks.

Daniel Moor would have been pleased with his piece of work in a decent 40.1sec.

So, too, we reckon, his owners – the Legacy Power Racing Stable.

To date, their import has won more than $100,000 in prize money. Can the son of Into Mischief upset the apple cart in Sunday’s $150,000 contest?

It is a tough ask but upsets do happen – which is what makes this game so attractive.

Dream Alliance races off a rating of 70 and he gets into the Cup reckoning on the back of a solid trial on June 22 when he ran a pleasing second to Pacific Warrior.

Outside of the Cup and on the undercard, watch for the betting on Elite Legend in Race 10 – the 1,600m race for Class 3 gallopers.

Also look out for One Million, who is down to contest Race 6, the Open Maiden sprint over the 1,400m. Both hailing from Lim’s yard, too, they look to be in fine fettle and will surely make their presence felt on Sunday.

Elite Legend had Nunes up on top when running the 600m in 40.3sec while One Million – who was one of the “late comers” on the training tracks – showed good speed for Bernardo Pinheiro when covering the trip in a smooth 36.4sec.

Elite Legend was a popular $16 winner on June 11 when he gave his punters no cause for worry in his second Kranji outing.

The English-bred son of Kodiac was also entered for the Stewards’ Cup, but the Elite Performance Stable went for the softer option.

“He’s a nice horse, we think he could measure up in the Stewards’ Cup,” said Lim.

“But, after discussing with the owners, we felt we would be throwing him in at the deep end too fast.

“If he runs well on Sunday, we can still set him for the Derby.”

The Group 1 Singapore Derby (1,800m) on July 23 is the third leg of the 4YO series.

As for One Million, he has yet to show us anything to instil confidence.

His 10 runs to date have produced nothing of note but his work leading up to Sunday’s assignment has been solid.

The Spill The Beans four-year-old could be tossed into the mix when working out those novelty bets.

He could be just the runner you need to juice up that tierce or quartet.