KUALA LUMPUR: February 2, 2025

Being two of the top sprinters in Singapore in recent years, King Arthur and Super Salute have met many times at Kranji.

The last time they raced each other across the causeway was in the Group 3 Fortune Bowl 12 months ago when Super Salute finished third behind Golden Monkey whereas King Arthur trailled the field home last.

Prior to that, King Arthur was unplaced in the Group 3 New Year Cup which was won by Super Salute.

Both horses have been out of action for a considerable period of time before they reappeared in Malaysia during the past two months.

King Arthur was unplaced in his Malaysian debut in early December while Super Salute finished third first-up behind Witnessimpact three weeks ago.

On the strength of that run, Super Salute was installed favourite in the RM62,000 KL Tower Stakes, a Metro A race over 1100m, at Sungai Besi today while King Arthur went off at long odds (RM78).

Super Salute was smartly away and quickly took the lead but he had three horses for company with Buuraq Sixty-One, Chinese Tea and Violet breathing down his neck on his outside when the field settled down.

Apprentice Fikri Ismail was watching the proceedings right behind the leading quartet on King Arthur.

Super Salute led into the straight just ahead of the chasing pack and it was then King Arthur found a dream run just on the outside of the pacemaker.

King Arthur collared Super Salute at the 200m and they matched strides until the 50m when King Arthur pulled away to win by 1-1/4 lengths, giving trainer Sivan Veerapan a 1-2 finish.

It was the 10th win in 34 starts in Singapore and Malaysia for the I Am Invincible gelding who was unplaced in two runs in Australia.

“This horse (King Arthur) has been with me for the past four months. He came with leg and hoof issues and it took a while for me to get him right,” said Sivan.

“Today is the right day, the right distance and he proved it to the owner (Napshot Stable), to the stable and to everybody.”

On Super Salute finishing second, he said: “I was not really disappointed.”

“He had weight (59kg) on his back. The jockey (Saifudin Ismail) told me if he had come from the behind, he would have run a bettter race. Just that there was no early pace on. He jumped and found himself in front. He only gave up late in the race. He will run a good race next start.”