HOLE IN ONE SHOULD BE THE ONE

On his third place in GI S’pore Derby, Class 4 mile race a piece of cake for Le Grange ward

- Michael Lee

Hole In One does not win out of turn, but it was a third place that stands him out in the $50,000 Class 4 race (1,600m) on Aug 11.

The 32 lengths behind the cracking Lim's Saltoro-Makin 1-2 in the Group 1 Singapore Derby (1,800m) on July 21 probably told the difference in class on paper.

After a closer watch of the 4YO classic, that gap could have been narrowed if the son of Spieth had drawn better than nine in the 12-horse field.

Caught five wide from the start, he suddenly rolled forward at the 1,000m to go eye-balling eventual winner Lim's Saltoro.

When Brazilian jockey Bernardo Pinheiro cranked it up into the home straight, he did match Lim's Saltoro stride for stride for around 100m, until the side-effects of that mid-race gut-buster kicked in.