Classy Liu Chie Poo field a litmus test for Mojito

Saturday’s Liu Chie Poo Trophy at a mile hinges on which MOJITO turns up after his poor run off a four-month lay-up in April, coming out of last December’s Mouttet Mile.

After back-to-back demolition jobs of Americans in the Kenneth Mattis and Jamaica Cup, winning automatic entry to the Mouttet Mile in which he raced a creditable sixth down the backstretch and into the lane, MOJITO was not only run off his legs on return by SIR DON, but finished behind the likes of GODBYE FIREFLY and ZULU WARRIOR.

A similar performance in the Liu Chie Poo could result in an even worse finish for MOJITO, considering INTRESTNTIMESAHEAD has been flying at exercise and BLUE VINYL proved on his last run, a length behind IS THAT A FACT at nine furlongs, that he still packs class as the 2022 Guineas and St Leger winner.

INTRESTNTIMESAHEAD, St Leger winner 2024, has his first start out of Peter-John Parsard’s barn, acquired privately from Jason DaCosta. Having comfortably beaten stablemate BRENDA BOY and MARK MY IDENTITY at a mile in December, returning to overnight-allowance company with a six-furlong gallop of 1:12.2 under his girth, could spell ‘game over’ for rivals.

MOJITO hasn’t been doing anything flashy at exercise but is down a level from the Saint Cecelia, in which he had flopped. Richard Azan could be deliberately throttling the 2022 champion two-year-old at exercise for him to unleash his fury on race-day. It would be foolhardy to underestimate or write off a horse who annihilated GIRVANO and RUN JULIE RUN in last November's Jamaica Cup.

Tread carefully in the Liu Chie Poo in which MOJITO could either hit or miss, resulting in a romp or the race being flung open to INTRESTNTIMESAHEAD on his first start from a strange barn against sneaky BLUE VINYL, who, in Gary Subratie’s signature style, is giving nothing away at exercise.