Rocket Man needs home win

Connections of Singapore’s champion sprinter Rocket Man are keen to consider the chance to race against unbeaten Black Caviar in Melbourne in the spring for the bonus offered by the Victoria Racing Club on top of increased prizemoney, but the real import of a clash depends on Rocket Man winning handsomely at Kranji in Singapore on Sunday.

Rocket Man (b g 5, Viscount (AUS)-Macrosa (NZ), by McGinty (NZ)) is odds-on to win the G1 KrisFlyer Sprint (1200m) and net his second Global Sprint Challenge win for the year (after Dubai’s G1 Golden Shaheen in March).

He doesn’t have to win the KrisFlyer to be eligible for the $600,000 bonus to a horse who already has a GSC win, but to give “world No. 1 credibility” to the possible contest in the now $1 million (formerly $750,000) Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) at Flemington in November, he can’t afford to drop his home race – Black Caviar already has won her GSC race, the G1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington during the Melbourne Festival of Racing.

Singapore locals and those who follow the international circuit can’t see Rocket Man losing on Sunday, and in early markets he is odds-on, despite drawing poorly in barrier nine in the 10-horse field.

Trainer Patrick Shaw said: “He drew nine in Dubai and still won. So it doesn’t worry me where he will jump from.”

Asked if his horse was the world’s best sprinter, or whether Black Caviar, who has raced only in Australia but is rated higher by the world’s major handicappers, Shaw said: “Obviously it’s very hard to judge because I’ve been international, she hasn’t been international.”

But he did say Rocket Man, at five, is at his peak and he did say that if Black Caviar is No. 1 there was no way the other top Australian sprinter Hay List is No. 2 in the world – ie, he is not better than Rocket Man.

“That (claim), I definitely don’t go along with,” he said. “I’ve watched his form and I can’t buy that – he’s a nice horse but not in her class. I think he’s the best to race against her in Australia at the moment.”

Whatever Rocket Man’s next campaign target, the gelding will go for a spell after the KrisFlyer. Caulfield trainer Peter Moody has aborted a “tired” Black Caviar’s Queensland campaign and sent her for a spell.

The KrisFlyer can be seen on Australian pay television on Sunday as part of a big program that includes the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m).

SELECTIONS

KrisFlyer: Rocket Man 1, Green Birdie 2, Sacred Kingdom 3.

SIA Cup: Irian 1, California Memory 2, River Jetez 3.