Stop The Water in flowing form
The Richard Lines-trained son of Headwater was in no mood to play nice.
He meant business - and showed it from the get-go.
Partnered by Laercio de Souza and jumping from the outermost chute in that line-up of eight, he was neatly into stride and barely had the runners covered the first 200m that we saw him dictating the terms and the tempo.
Engine Start (Andre da Silva) and War Star (Akmazani Mazuki) tried their level best to eat into his lead but it was like trying to stop the water from gushing out of a broken dam.
So, on he went and when they had straightened for the run home, Pacific Commander had joined in the action.
A furlong out and Stop The Water was home and hosed.
He dashed off to the line, beating the fast-finishing Pacific Commander by just over a length, disposing of the 1,000m in 59.6sec.
Engine Start and War Star, who waved the white flag at the furlong marker, settled for third and fourth respectively.
After such a masterclass, it should not be long before this talented four-year-old extends his record of six wins, with the last one coming on April 5.
That day he put together a back-to-back double and his third win since coming under Lines' care.
His three other victories were recorded at Kranji when he was under the care of trainer Steven Burridge.
In the next trial, Summer Wind came close to going under a minute for the 1,000m on grass, clocking 1min 0.53sec under a strong ride from Oscar Chavez.
Unlike the show from Stop The Water, who won from the front, Summer Wind took a different route.
The son of Hidden Dragon jumped cleanly but was snagged back by Chavez to sit in midfield as Solidasrock and Raise Your Glass traded blows up front.
Yes, Chavez was happy to be a spectator to the action that was unfolding in front of him and it was only at the furlong mark that he muscled in.
He would eventually take the honours by half a length.
At eight years old, Summer Wind won his last race on the first day of the 2025 racing season at Kuala Lumpur.
That day, in a 1,020m race on Jan 4, when partnered by Koh Teck Huat, Summer Wind led from go to whoa, eventually beating Thunder Star by over three lengths.
However, his subsequent six races were nothing much to write home about.
Hopefully for his connections, that win at the trials will reignite a spark in the old stager.
The day's action ended with the sand trials. In the first of those, which was the day's third trial, Sakura, from the stables of Lim Shung You, led from pillar to post to beat Cavalry by 1½ lengths.
Then came the turn of Time To Harvest and, he too led all the way to beat Tangesh by another healthy margin of 1¾ lengths.
brian@sph.com.sg
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