Atlante Legend primed for back-to-back double

That nail-biting last-start win on Jan 31 would have earned Atlante Legend busloads of fans.

Then, under a well-judged ride from Blaike McDougall, Atlante Legend got home in the nick of time in the Class 4A contest over 1,200m.

The son of Atlante came from near last at the home turn to beat Storm Pegasus by a nose, thereby getting off the mark at his third start in Kuala Lumpur.

A former six-time winner in Singapore, Atlante Legend will have his next assignment at Sungai Besi in a Class 4A sprint (1,150m) on Feb 16. Trainer Simon Dunderdale must already be plotting a race-to-race double for the eight-year-old New Zealand-bred.

The 2024 Malaysian champion trainer was a busy man on the morning of Feb 11.

The bulk of his 18-strongteam for the races coming up were out for work on the training track and Atlante Legend was one of them.

On a track rated "good", he wasone of the star workers when he clocked 41.2sec for the 600m.

No record-breaking gallop there, but it would have served to keep him on his toes and ready for whatever that is thrownat him on Feb 16. Outside of that Class 4 contest, there should beplenty of interest in the Class 3 sprint over 1,020m.

That is where Heart Of Fire takes on the likes of Dunderdale's Infinity Glory and, among others, the Siva Kumar-trained RS Dream.

The three horses were sent out for gallops on Feb 11 and they came through without any issues.

Heart Of Fire ran the 600m in 38.7sec. Infinity Glory did it easy, running the trip in 41.2sec while RS Dream just managed to break the 40-sec mark when covering the sharp sprintin 39.9sec.

Anything can happen in racing but, for now, it looks like a toss-up between the talented trio, who have all shown good recent form.

RS Dream, a Toronado eight-year-old, was a winner in a Class 4A (1,100m) race on Dec 8.

Infinity Glory had a rough passage at his last start on Feb 2. It resultedin his rider, Tuan Ammar being suspended for three days for carelessriding.

The Overshare five-year-old finished sixth in the race won by Pacific Victory.

As for Heart Of Fire, his last win on Jan 4 was in a similar Class 3 race over 1,020m.

Of the trio, Heart Of Fire looks the standout.

A five-year-old Australian-bred, he beat Pacific Flash to win the race on Jan 4.

That day, when ridden by Andre da Silva, he was swiftest out of the gates and had his rivals doing all the chasing for the rest of the 1,020m trip. They never did catchhim and, in the end, he had coasted in by almost five lengths.

The son of All Too Hard was expected to run a big race next on Jan 19 but his backers were left lighterin the pocket when he beat just one home.

However, there were excuses. On jumping, da Silva momentarily lost the use of his irons.

To compoundmatters, Heart Of Fire had to race wide for most of the trip.

Prepared by Winson Cheng Han Yong, Heart Of Fire has brilliant early speed and it was out of character to see him settle so far back at his last start.

If anything, he deserves another chance and a win on Feb 16 should not come as much of a surprise.

Elsewhere on the 12-race programme on Feb 16, keep an eye on Sacred Sky.

He has a date with the starter in that Class 4B race over the 1,150m and trainer Frank Maynard would have been pleased with his work on the training track where he covered the 600m in 39.4sec.

Sacred Sky finally broke the duck on Feb 2 in a Class 5A race (1,250m) at his 18th start.

Before his first race in Malaysia last October, the Zoustar six-year-old was previously trained by Jerome Tan and placed three times from 11 starts in Singapore.

brian@sph.com.sg

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