Exciting three-year-old Inferno (Holy Roman Emperor) has pleased connections with a barrier trial this week ahead of a tilt at the S$400,000 Singapore Guineas (1600m) on September 26.
Inferno posted a dominant win at his last start in the Singapore Classic (1400m) and with a gap of one month between runs, trainer Cliff Brown decided a barrier trial wouldn’t do Inferno any harm ahead of his grand final next week.
“There is a month between runs,” Brown said. “As he is a lazy trackworker, I thought he’d get more out of an easy barrier trial.”
“He did enough without doing too much, which is just fine. He was good, he was not out to break any record, and he still ran on well.
“He only pulled up by the time you get to the place where the horses enter the track from the tunnel.”
Looking barely out of second gear at the tail, Inferno was hardly ever bustled up by race-jockey Valid Duric, but he still attacked the line once he had the winning post in his sights at the top of the straight.
Inferno could have won easily, but Duric just allowed him to stride into second place, hard held, half-a-length off Sacred Don.
A son of Holy Roman Emperor, Inferno was purchased out of Westbury Stud’s 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 draft for $140,000.