With 11 ultra-competitive races on show, there will be no shortage of excitement at the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor meeting at Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7.
But, before the Group 1 2,000m classic gets underway as Race 9 at 4.20pm, perhaps no other race on the undercard will get the adrenaline pumping more than the Singapore Pools Trophy.
It is the second year running that the Selangor Turf Club names a race in honour of the Singapore tote company in conjunction with the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor, with Chinese Tea taking out the inaugural edition in 2024.
This year, the RM80,000 (S$25,000) Class Supreme A race over 1,200m was selected as the supporting act to help cement further the cross-border ties and friendship between the two outfits off the track.
No such cordialities on the track, where 12 speedballs will go more like the Dirty Dozen giving each other no mercy.
At least four or five of them will go like the clappers, but any cut-throat battle can only see even the most fleet-footed of customers fall into a heap.
The last horse standing is usually the one with tactical speed – a quality that connections of two of the leading chances, Pacific Vampire and Yes Man, hope their charges are blessed with.
In Pacific Vampire’s case, time has told trainer Jason Ong that the eight-time winner is at his best when he is on a tear at the head of the queue.
The two-time Singapore champion trainer and all-but-crowned Malaysian champion trainer in his first season has tried to chop and change his running style, even tweaking with his headgear to get the desired result – but to no avail.
Ong is not giving up on tinkering, though – not just with the gears, but also with the one sitting atop the Impending six-year-old.
