Shirvo Ready For First Salvo

Former Macau sprinter throws in promising effort, as does Ong's The Man Is Danma

- Brian Miller

There is more than meets the eye to Shirvo's uninspiring Malaysian form, but it could be foolish not to have the relative newcomer on your list of "horses to follow".

Shirvo did show promise with two seconds at his first two starts at his Sungai Besi base, but his last two runs were dismal and best forgotten.

He finished eighth of 14 in that March 16 race which, incidentally, was the Tunku Gold Cup won by Noah Khan and he was again eighth of 11 at his last run on April 5. That one was won by Antipodean, the 2024 Selangor Gold Cup winner.

Granted, Shirvo's form might look bad on paper. But dig deeper and you will find that the Not A Single Doubt five-year-old is really better than all those negatives.

In a racing career which began in Australia when he was just a two-year-old, Shirvo has put together five victories.

The first was on May 5, 2022 when he won a two-year-old race in Wagga in New South Wales.

Sent over to continue his racing in Macau, he won four races (1,200m to 1,350m) there before joining Wayne Lim Woei Chet's Selangor yard in early 2025.