Trees Of Valinor struck form at the right time to win the RM200,000 Three Year Old Mile Championship (1600m) at Sungai Besi today.

Although he showed promise with three second-place finishes in his first eight runs, it was only two starts ago that the Telperion gelding broke through for his maiden success in an Open Maiden event over 1200m.

Trees Of Valinor then followed that up with a come-from-behind win over 1400m two weeks ago which put him right in the picture for the Three Year Old Mile Championship.

Meanwhile, Duma, winner of the NZB Ready To Run 2023 Graduate Cup (1400m) on Apr 6 when he beat Trees Of Valinor, ran second to Elite Prince in the Three Year Old Sprint Championship (1200m) on Jun 1 and was touted as the one to beat.

But Trees Of Valinor proved too strong over the mile today,

Relative newcomer Strorm Titan, having just his second career start, sprang to an early lead from Yes Man with Campionessa and Cheval Pegasus in close attendance. Rocky Bhai was a handy fifth on the rails at the 800m, followed by Duma, Trees Of Valinor and Rocky Pegasus.

Yes Man joined Storm Titan making the turn into the straight and they were just ahead of Campionessa at the top of the straight. The rest of the field had bunched up behind them.

Duma took a split between horse to join Yes Man, Storm Titan and Canpionessa making it four in-a-line at ther 400m. Rocky Bhai was poised to strike on the outside and Trees Of Valinor was looking for a run behind the front quartet.

Duma shot to a clear lead at the 250m with Campionessa fighting on in second place. By then, Trees Of Valinor had managed to switch out and was in the clear. He and Rocky Bhai were soon gunning for the leader Duma.

Duma failed to keep up his advantage in the final 100m and Trees Of Valinor quickly raced past him to win by 3/4 length, with Rocky Bhai, Rocky Pegasus and Strong White also flashing home to take second, third and fourth placing respectively.

“He (Trees Of Valinor) is a very nice horse and he’s got lots of potential,” said trainer Frank Maynard.

“He’s done a bit of racing and will probably go for a spell now. It was a good win and he has improved a lot. He will go to another level.

“I am not taking anything away from Duma (who finished fifth). He lacked match fitness but he actually went very good. When he went for home I thought he was going to win by five lengths but his (lack of) fitness let him down.”

“I have to thank the trainer who has done a very job with him (Trees Of Valinor),” said jockey Wong Kan Chong.

“I had a tough time looking for a run in the straight. Finally I managed to go through a gap and my horse flashed home convincingly.”

Asked on his tactics in the race, Wong said: ”Actually, I was following Duma. He was the horse to beat. Then I also saw Rocky Bhai in front so I just tracked them patiently.”