IT'S THREE STRAIGHT WINS FOR GHALIB

Exciting sprinter is still learning his craft, but Burridge is aiming him for Gl Lion City Cup

- Michael Lee

Ghalib keeps stamping himself as a rising star of the Kranji sprinting ranks with a third win on the bounce on April 13.

The soft 42-length victory in the $100,000 Kranji Stakes A race (1,100m) might be considered as, arguably, the most impressive of his bulging haul of six wins from only 10 starts.

The way regular partner Manoel Nunes did little work to get him home by such a wide margin spoke volumes about the engine under the bonnet.

But it was more the contempt with which the I Am Invincible four-year-old has outrun his rivals at elite level for the second time in a row that mints him as a horse to watch in the coming months before racing ends on Oct 5.

At his last start, he captured a similar event on Feb 17, but the jury was still out whether he could go on an upward spiral, especially with the presence of Group 3 Merlion Trophy winner Pacific Emperor in the April 13 contest.

Punters still backed the Steven Burridge-trained and Al-Arabiya Stable-owned galloper with confidence, slashing his odds further down to $6 when he drew barrier No. 1 and it proved to be spot-on.

Beginning the best - a sign that the only chink in his armour, his dodgy barrier manners, is all but sorted out - Ghalib held his line on the rails.