With the first leg of the Triple Crown Series set to kick off with the running of the Group 1 Tunku Gold Cup over 1200m just two weeks away, champion sprinter AWESOME STORM sent a stern warning to his rivals with a bounce-back win in the Metro A set-weight event over 1400m in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The Simon Dunderdale-trained star sprinter demolished his rivals in the 2022 edition of the Tunku Gold Cup with an 8.5-length all-the-way victory but just failed to complete a double when SAN ANDREAS collared him late in the same race last year.
Although AWESOME STORM managed two subsequent wins after last year’s Cup, the Australian gelding had gone off the boil in three runs at the tail end of the year before resuming off a three-month break on March 17 and clearly needing the run.
With the run under his belt, a fitter AWESOME STORM, ridden by champion Singapore apprentice Jerlyn Seow for the first time, took the gelding right to the front on settling down and led his rivals into the ground by 3.5 lengths.
He has recaptured his best form at an opportune time as the Triple Crown Series quickly approaches. Seow, who has been a regular rider at the Selangor fixtures this year, has won four out of 33 races, striking at 12 percent while placing 13 times for a high strike rate of 39 percent.
