Sent out as the $12 favourite, the I Am Invincible five-year-old jumped fairly but apprentice jockey Yusoff Fadzli had to work on him early to get the perfect one-back-one-out position behind Illustrious (Wong Chin Chuen), who set a cracking early pace with Sky Eye (Shafrizal Saleh) on his inside for company.

The leading pair kept the pressure on each other into the bend and put a gap on the chasing field though King Arthur kept in touch – albeit some three or four lengths behind the bolters – and looked every chance on turning for home.

With Illustrious putting up the white flag with 200m to go, Sky Eye kicked strongly but Yusoff kept his mind on the task ahead, allowing the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) runner-up to slowly rein in the leader with less than 50m to spare before he won relatively comfortably by half-a-length over the gallant Sky Eye. The strong-finishing Grand Koonta finished another half-a-length back in third.

The winning time was 1 min 8.51secs for the 1200m race on the Short Course, shaving nearly half a second off Aramco's Class record of 1 min 8.94secs set in a similar race four years ago.

Winning trainer Donna Logan was full of praise for both horse and jockey when she spoke to racing presenter Pat Comerford after the race.

"It's a pleasure to have a horse like this to train for the Fortuna syndicate," said the New Zealand female handler.

"He just keeps stepping up every time. Yusoff and him get on famously.

"But I thought he's a little far off them and he has got a bit of work to do today, but he's just got that big heart and motor and kept giving."

Of her gun apprentice jockey, Logan was even more effusive in her praise.

"I always knew the boy (Yusoff) could ride. He just didn't have the confidence and he hadn't had the horsepower under him," she said.

"He has the horsepower now, the confidence and he's just going ahead in leaps and bounds. I'm really pleased to have him in my stable.

"He's a great worker and a great asset.

"I'm just happy to see him ride winners for me, (trainer) Tim (Fitzsimmons) or whoever it may be. Today, he also rode one for Tim (Thunder in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1600m on the Polytrack) and I'm thrilled to bits."

And what of that premiership battle between Logan and Fitzsimmons; who both trained doubles on Sunday?

"Don't worry about that till the 26th of November (final meeting). Then, we'll worry!" quipped Logan, who regained the lead in the premiership race (by one) with King Arthur's win.

As for Yusoff, he knew exactly what horsepower he had at his disposal and was thankful for the opportunity.

"He had just some back from a freshen-up from when we last ran him (17 September) and he was a bit fat," said the Malaysian apprentice jockey.

"But it nice for him to get that run and he should be better this week.

"We had a good draw. We just jumped and sat behind the speed. I waited until the top of the straight, angled him out and he gave me a nice race and won.

"I'm happy with my lady boss - Donna – and the owner (David Ellis, manager of Fortuna NZ Racing Stable). They gave me a lot of support and a chance back on this horse."

The win – remarkably King Arthur's seventh in 2022 and ninth overall – took his career prizemoney to a shade over $442,000 for his lucky connections.

The win was also the third leg of a winning treble for Yusoff, who had earlier saluted on Charminton ($18) for Logan in the $50,000 Class 4 Division 2 race over 1200m and Thunder ($55) for Fitzsimmons.

He now leads the apprentice premiership by eight wins over fellow apprentice jockey Jerlyn Seow (13 wins).

Records broken on both tracks and horses to follow

Apart from King Arthur, Street Of Dreams  ($12) broke the Class record for the Maiden race over 1200m on the Polytrack (see previous report) and looks a horse to follow through the grades.

Not to be outdone, the smart Mr Black Back ($10) also managed to set a new Class record with his first win in Singapore in the $50,000 Class 4 race over 1400m.

The five-year-old son of Snitzel was made to work early by the cheeky Implement (Jerlyn Seow) but showed both his class and staying ability by winning relatively easily by one-and-a-quarter length over Shanghai Star (Shafrizal Saleh) in the now record time of 1 min 21.35secs, 0.16 seconds off Imperium's time set in a similar race on the Short Course in 2020.

He is a horse to follow over longer trips according to winning jockey Vlad Duric.

"It was a bit of a balls-up the other day on the Poly(track) – it was way too short (1200m) and that's the wrong surface for him," said Duric who also won earlier in the day on Knight Love ($18) in the $30,000 Class 5 Division 2 over 1100m.

"But between (trainer) Tim (Fitzsimmons) and I, we were trying to rush him to the races because we had bigger plans in store for him, so he needed the gallop.

"He progressed a lot through that and again, even this race was too short for him – I couldn't pull him after the winning post - the further the better for him.

"Tim is going to go straight to an 1800m (race) with him and that's ideal.

"He's very progressive, especially as he gets ground, so we are going to have plenty of fun with him here."

Ride of the day

Race caller Scott Bailey had plenty to choose from an excellent 12-race meeting but settled on Yusoff's mature ride on King Arthur as the ride of the day.

"This young man is riding very well," said Bailey of the two kilos-claimer.

"I loved the way he kept his composure in fourth position when the speed got hot.

"He was happy to settle and keep him travelling comfortably on the bridle.

"When the run presented, he peeled him out to the open and drew away at the end to win well.

"A very composed ride given the circumstances in the day's highlight."