Good Things "Kam" in Two's

A superb training feat with a winning double on Friday night for Te Akau Singapore trainer Mark Walker ... who continues his stranglehold on the Singapore Trainers' Premiership ... the Singapore Turf Club reports ...

Trainer Mark Walker saddled a superb running double with Zac Gallant and Kam's Comet on Friday to consolidate further his driving seat in this year's Singapore trainer's premiership.

The Kiwi handler, a former six-time New Zealand champion back home and who has yet to land a title since moving to Kranji in 2010, now sits on 52 winners, nine clear of Michael Freedman, and will welcome every winner that comes his way as he knows they are only just over halfway into the season.

While the first leg of his brace also brought cheers to his new apprentice Ng Choon Kiat (see other report) and ended a drought of 27 runs without winning for Zac Gallant, Kam's Comet, was on the other hand, a more prolific runner, having now tasted defeat only once in four runs.

A tough win for Kam's Comet (Manoel Nunes, orange silks) in Race 7 on Friday.

“He had excuses second-up. He was checked badly at the 800m and the race was over for him,” recalled Walker.

“He ran on grass then, and that's why I decided to give him another run on grass tonight, and he's done a good job to get there in time. He's a slow-maturing type mentally but once he grows 100%, he will be even better.”

Regular partner Manoel Nunes said the early fast pace in the $80,000 Austcham Cup, a Class 3 race over 1800m, suited Kam's Comet ($19) down to a tee, but felt his somewhat dour finish inside the final yards could suggest he was now looking for more ground.

“They went quite fast and that suited him. He's also got the speed to tack on, but down the back he was running pretty relaxed,” said the Brazilian who was scooping up a winning treble (won earlier with Cash Box and Blossoms Sequel).

“He has a very nice turn of foot and can finish his races off very well, but he just took a while to get there. I think he can step up to 1400m from now on.  I wasn't worried getting back on turf as he was checked badly at his only run on turf before. He had excuses and he got it right tonight.”

The Danroad three-year-old settled in fifth spot, content to watch the pacemakers going along at breakneck speed upfront before he pounced onto the scene at the top of the straight.

Pure Tactics (Erasmus Aslam) and Flying Zero (Syafiq Hazman) were, however, still in the mix as they were also letting down with plenty of zip while race-leader Von Krumm (John Powell) was not a spent force either.

But Nunes was obviously in no mood to let his trifecta slip away, as he extracted the best of his mount, who lunged between runners to get the money by a head from Pure Tactics with Flying Zero third another nose away. The winning time was 1min 9.88secs for the 1200m on the Short Course.

Kam's Comet's earnings have now bulged well in excess of $150,000 for his Dutch owner Mari van der Kam.