Both gallopers turn up the heat at trials, look primed and poised for the Oct 5 races

Several runners who have been entered for the 12-race Selangor action on Oct 5 came out of the Sungai Besi trials on Sept 30 looking like they were all good to go.

The two "hot ones" were Spicy Babe in Trial 2, and Good Chilli from the third hit-out.

Richard Mule and War Sniper, who both trialled on the sand in the fifth and last jump-out of the morning, also drew notice.

But the stand-outs were Spicy Babe  and Good Chilli , and it could pay to give them plenty of attention in both their races coming up.

Starting next to the rails, Spicy Babe jumped cleanly and led from Jungle King, Aurish Star and Trees Of Valinor .

The Jukebox five-year-old soon seemed tired of the attention. With 600m to travel, she cleared away from the pack.

Up in the saddle, Uzair Sharudin could have done the crossword puzzle, such was his mount's dominance.

Eventually, the gutsy mare cruised to the line a five-length winner, wrapping up the trip in 1min 0.38sec.

A five-time starter since beginning her racing career on Feb 9, Spicy Babe is as honest as they come and a "trier" in every sense of the word.

Her name would have gone into many notebooks after she turned in a smart showing on debut.

That day on Feb 9, racegoers at Sungai Besi sent her off as the second pick in a 1,200m Open Maiden sprint and they would have cheered themselves hoarse as the field thundered down the home stretch.

Alas, Spicy Babe, who was shouted the winner 250m out, could not cope with the finishing burst of He's My Halo, who went on to win by 1¼ lengths.

Her subsequent starts produced two fourth placings. But sandwiched between them was a win.

It was another Open Maiden sprint over the 1,200m on Aug 3. That time, Spicy Babe came from third at the turn to beat Boss Baby by three parts of a length.

Trained by Lawson Moy, Spicy Babe is as game as they come and she should be comfortable racing in Class 4 company.

As for Good Chilli, his trial was full of merit after the Tan Eng Peow-trained gelding was involved in a four-way battle right until the 600m mark.

It was only then that Shazmin Sudin urged him on and like a good horse, Good Chilli responded.

But the fight was not over. King Gee, another one from Tan's yard, gave chase with the stablemates racing to the line where Good Chilli got the nod by half-a-length. The pair left third-placed Typhoon (Harmeet Singh Gill) stranded some eight lengths behind.

Good Chilli clocked 1:00.59 for his journey over the 1,000m.

A seasoned galloper with 33 race starts under his girth, this son of Swiss Ace has been winless in four starts since delivering the goods in that 1,020m race on Oct 12.

It was the second of two wins scored back-to-back since relocating from Kranji where he was unable to score in 27 starts, mostly for Mahadi Taib.

Granted, his form then took a dive, but this victory at the trials may reignite that winning spark and, in the process, produce a much-deserving third career success on Oct 5.

Then, to round things off, there was that sprint on the sand.

Five horses lined up for the action but, as it turned out, it was a fight between two old stagers, Winson Cheng Han Yong's Richard Mule and the Tan-trained War Sniper (Shazmin).

After racing in a pack over the first 200m, the pair dropped off the rest and had the trial to themselves over the final 800m.

They matched strides but War Sniper, a Speightstown nine-year-old with only one win to his name, soon gave up the fight. Over the final furlong, it was just all about Richard Mule, an Iffraaj eight-year-old, who boasts three wins in 27 starts.

He charged home to take the trial by 1¼ lengths and he did it in 1:02.04.

Both Richard Mule and War Sniper have been entered for the two Class 5 (A) races on Oct 5 and, on the strength of their showing at the trials, they deserve some consideration.