Top of the Class vs chief Commander in ARC Cup

This will be the second meeting of the two animals this season, and this time the distance will be 1800 metres on March 11.

On Saturday last, the John O’Brien-trained five-year-old benefitted from a superb ride by Gary Laban to beat Top Of The Class one and three-quarter lengths.

The distance then was 1350 metres and Chief Commander was in receipt of 7.5 kilos.

But turfites are forewarned this will not be a two-horse race with the impressive Peace Offering, Crown Point, Uram, This Cat Is back and Dinner Silence is holding the engagement.

What weight the handicappers Robin Jaisingh, Wayne Shockness, John Maingot and Michael Singh will give Top Of The Class and Chief Commander in this one will be very interesting.

That grey four-year-old Peace Offering showed he could be a superstar in the making with a most fluent victory in the James Smith Trophy Allowance over 1750 metres last time out in the good time of one minute 50.35 seconds.

What would his handicap be?

Then there is that Crown Point who narrowly missed out on the Triple Crown last year.

This four-year-old bred and owned by Peter Hackett and Ainsley Mark was also a convincing winner of the First Citizens Caribbean race over 1800 metres on New Year’s Day holiday on January 2 in one minute 52.99 seconds. Third and final subscriptions of $300 for the ARC Cup Handicap becomes due on February 22 and all nine horses for which second "subs" were paid, including Millenium Reign for which a penalty fee of $1,500 was paid are expected to stand their ground.

The nine are: Chief Commander; Crown Point; Dinner Silence; Latonia; Peace Offering; This Cat Is Back; Top Of The Class; Uram; Millenium Reign.