Evergreen OPPOSING FORCE galloped into the history book when he captured the RM1.5 million Piala Emas Sultan Selangor at Sungei Besi here today.

With RM900,000 in first prizemoney, the eight-year-old chestnut New Zealand gelding by Jetball out of the Sir Tristram mare Delia’s Choice brought his earnings in Malaysia to just over RM4.53 million, surpassing the figure earned by OUZO, who did his racing in both Singapore and Malaysia.

In earning his place in history, OPPOSING FORCE also denied SUPERB CLASSIC the Selangor Turf Club "Triple Crown", with the latter having won the Tunku Gold Cup (1200m) and the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) earlier in the season, and would have picked up an additional RM500,000 in bonus had he been successful today.

SUPERB CLASSIC, tested beyond 1700m for the first time today, finished one-and-a-quarter lengths behind the winner, with MARTINGALE third of 11 runners.

OPPOSING FORCE has been a consistent performer since 2001 when he won the Perak Derby (2400m) and the MRA Cup (2000m). Rarely has a classic been run without him being among the placings.

In 2002, OPPOSING FORCE won the Perak Derby again and added the Sprint Trophy to his collection. He then went through an exasperating run of minor placings before he was transferred to trainer Tiang Kim Choi.

Under Tiang, OPPOSING FORCE was back in the winner’s circle in the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) last year and made history when he captured the Perak Derby for the third time, and the only horses to do so, earlier last month.

Today’s victory also made up for his disappointment of finishing second to FLYING DIAMOND in the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor last year, when the race was run over 2000m for the first time with a record prizemoney of RM1.5 million.