Caller One invades Singapore

Caller One, winner of the last two runnings of the Golden Shaheen Stakes in Dubai, will bid for more foreign gold in the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Sprint at Kranji in Singapore on Saturday. But this time he is switching to turf.

The six furlong Group 3 stakes is worth $150,000 to the winner and will be run under the lights. Charming City, an Australian- bred son of Chief's Crown who won the six-furlong Chairman's Sprint by five lengths at Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on April 21, leads Caller One's 11 rivals.

Western Pride will run on the same card in in the Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup, over one and a quarter miles on turf. The Cup is worth $450,000 to the winner.

Gary Stevens joins up again with Caller One, who he rode to a head victory over Echo Eddie in the Golden Shaheen on March 23. But he will pass on Western Pride, who beat only two home in the Dubai World Cup, in favor of the English-trained Hawkeye. Western Pride will be ridden by the Frenchman Frederic Sanchez, currently riding in Singapore on a short-term contract.

Hawkeye was fourth to Agnes Digital in the Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 16 under Stevens. They have half a length to make up on the French filly Terre a Terre, who won the Dubai Duty Free on World Cup Day in her only appearance since.

Other leading candidates among the 14 runners in the Cup are Indigenous, from Hong Kong; Universal Prince from Australia; and the Godolphin-owned Grandera, who finished third, fourth, and fifth behind the Japanese pair of Eishin Preston and Agnes Digital in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong last month.