You can always rely on Zac Purton to get you out of trouble. That should be the headline for this piece. Having written a preview for Sundays card, I woke up early to watch what I believed to be 3 confident selections run with a fair degree of belief that Sunday would get off to the best possible start. First up was Precision Goal in Race 2, he was sat 2nd at halfway and ideally placed, only to look awkward in the closing stages and to shape like a horse who found the wet all-weather track to be like quicksand. Oh well. I can always put that down to the conditions but when Santorini faded badly in R4 an hour later, the mood had really turned. He was the most experienced runner in the field, yet ran like a horse who had never seen the track before. Very disappointing and I won't be looking to forgive him. Things were looking bleak when Zac Purton and Turin Starspangled headed to post for Race 6. He came into this with an unexposed profile and had shaped like a horse who would make waves this season but after a pair of disappointing runs from my earlier selections, my confidence was gone. What was I worrying about? Purton is a master of Sha Tin and having got his mount to settle behind the leader in a steadily run race, he could be called the winner with 2-furlongs to run as he came through runners to win by a length. Will he go in again? Quite possibly. The handicapper will have a say, but he shouldn't be rated higher than 72 after this win and he shapes like an 80+ horse to my eye, for all that I should add that he was ideally placed in a steadily run race.
Looking more generally at the card, we had the first Group race of the new season when The Golden Scenery landed the G3 Celebration Cup. This race developed into a 3-furlong sprint and he did well to come through the gaps in the closing stages to win, but I can't help but feel that this was such a muddling affair that the form will need to be treated with caution.
The headline act was Wunderbar. He is the only horse to have beaten Ka Ying Rising and although an injury setback has held him back until now, he showed no ill-effects when winning the Class 3 handicap (R9) with some authority. He is clearly a lot better than this level and the fact that Purton chose to ride him quite aggressively on his return would suggest that connections had similar thoughts. He had weight to concede to his rivals, but he was never really in danger of getting beaten and he will surely be heading into group company in the near future. Ka Ying Rising has improved significantly since Wunderbar beat him on New Year's Day, but connections must surely be hoping that their horse can at least compete in similar races with David Hayes rising star this season. As a small side note, I would also add that the 2nd placed Lucy in the Sky ran a fine race on Sunday and he is unlikely to meet a horse with the quality of Wunderbar next time out. He also has an unexposed profile with 2 wins from 7 starts for Me Tsui and ought to find another class 3 in the coming weeks.
Here are the time comparisons and speed figures for yesterdays winners at Sha Tin:
Comentarios