No stopping Peking Cruz

PEKING CRUZ returns to his playground on Saturday, the straight course, after running out of steam at six and a half furlongs on Sunday, worn down on a wet track by mudlark CRYPTOCURRENCY.

Having possibly won a half of his eight races at five furlongs straight, the leggy five-year-old needed only one run off his three-month COVID-19 lay-up before exposing his sharpness at his favourite trip, going down in a driving finish to super-fit UNIVERSAL BOSS on July 18.

PEKING CRUZ's following run, a fifth-place finish behind FATHER PATRICK in a flyer of a sprint at five and a half furlongs, was way better than it appears on paper. Carrying topweight 126lb with Dick Cardenas, who abhors the rail at Caymanas Park during any stiff sprint, especially crowded fields, PEKING CRUZ was literally on the brake from the half-mile behind a wall of eight horses.

Cardenas made up his mind from three furlongs out that he wanted no part of the rail and angled PEKING CRUZ outside, leaving the two-and-a-half, straightening seven, make that eight, wide of the leaders.

Asked to run up the lane, PEKING CRUZ gained on GOD OF LOVE, CORAZON and BOLD AFLAIR after FATHER PATRICK had flown the coop, but was held fifth, relegated by a flying WARTIME, who returned to frank the form two Saturdays ago, beating none other than CRYPTOCURRENCY by a neck.

Using FATHER PATRICK's marker race, which has since been franked by WARTIME, followed by CRYPTOCURRENCY, PEKING CRUZ, who barely lost second to UNCLE FRANK, has nothing to complain about, more so at five furlongs straight.

Though NUCLEAR THUNDER was only a half-length behind PEKING CRUZ in his stinging loss to UNIVERSAL BOSS, he was within touching distance of the rail on the stands' side, breaking from stall eleven in the 12-horse field. PEKING CRUZ was drawn at post-position five. Now drawn alongside each other in a nine-horse field, a much-fitter PEKING CRUZ should outclass NUCLEAR THUNDER.

ROJORN DI PILOT appeared rather flat with 126lb in the race won by UNIVERSAL BOSS but did seem sharper with the run under his girth, finishing sixth in the FATHER PATRICK marker race. However, he returns as topweight and drawn inside against the course specialist, PEKING CRUZ.

RAS EMANUEL and DUNROBIN are decent sprinters. However, post-positions one and three, respectively, make an already difficult task even more onerous against speedsters ROJORN DI PILOT and PEKING CRUZ out in mid-track.