PERFECT NEIGHBOUR

PERFECT NEIGHBOUR has one run better than COMMANDING CHIEF and TYPEWRITER under his girth and should use his early season form to get the better of his old rivals in tomorrow's Viceroy Trophy race at 1800 metres.

Whereas TYPEWRITER and COMMANDING CHIEF made their 2014 debuts late April, PERFECT NEIGHBOUR, who split the pair for second in last November's exciting Superstakes, was out a month earlier, beating MILITARY MOVE in an open allowance at a mile.

Displaying tremendous maturity as a four-year-old, PERFECT NEIGHBOUR surprisingly showed early pace, which was absent from his three-year-old campaign, to beat the country's top sprinters and grade-one middle-distance runners in the Lady Geeta and Chairman's trophy races.

Among PERFECT NEIGHBOUR's victims, at 1200 and 1500 metres, respectively, were BLAST THEM AWAY, UPPA TUNE, POTCHEEN, PETE'SWILDONE and DOUBLE THE HONEY.

That hat-trick of victories, at three varying distances, six furlongs to a mile, has PERFECT NEIGHBOUR cherry ripe for the Viceroy Trophy, for which he reports lighter than his three main rivals. At 54.0 kilos, he is getting seven pounds from TYPEWRITER and four from COMMANDING CHIEF.

TYPEWRITER lost his season opener to COMMANDING CHIEF, beaten by three and a half lengths in the 1400-metre Sam Mahfood trophy on April 26.

winning quite easily

COMMANDING CHIEF hasn't raced since but TYPEWRITER returned to beat MILITARY MOVE at 1820 metres in an open allowance late May, winning quite easily in 1:56.3.

Both COMMANDING CHIEF and TYPEWRITER have been purring at exercise, getting their engines ready for the big grade-one races lurking at the back-end of the season, especially the Superstakes and Gold Cup.

However, PEREFECT NEIGHBOUR has also looked sharp, galloping his last seven furlongs in 1:28.0 on Tuesday, the same morning TYPEWRITER posted 1:28.2.

COMMANDING CHIEF, who tends to perform better when his speed gallops are not too close to raceday, clocked 1:27.4 on June 7 and returned with an easy 1:16.4, for six furlongs, last Saturday.

He will try stealing the race from the half mile, but Ian Parsard's sprinter-stayer, UPPA TUNE, is in the event to ensure stablemate PETE'SWILDONE benefits from a fast early pace.

With his newfound speed and being the lightest of the proven stayers, PERFECT NEIGHBOUR should be stalking comfortably enough to pounce on rivals entering the lane.

His class and stamina should ensure he gets home safely from TYPEWRITER and COMMANDING CHIEF.