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Unbeaten sprinter left in the shadows

BOOM sprinter Debonair set punters a poser in the sixth of eight barrier trials on the grass yesterday. The David Hill-trained son of Zedative has oozed class when dismissing his rivals on each of his four starts to date. But he will be meeting the toughest company soon, some of which he faced in yesterday's trial.

He's never been one to over exert himself in his work, but takes on a different attitude come raceday. Yesterday he appeared to be beaten fairly and squarely by the likes of Geoff Lane's Heavily Armed, Lawrie Fownes' Kadbridge and Neville Begg's Auto-Matching.

And on the bare face of this trial would struggle if meeting them come raceday. But such is Debonair's competitive spirit, which stands in stark contrast to his almost indolent attitude in his work, that he could surprise. After all, he did exactly this before winning his first race as a griffin. Hill's Top-Worth stamped his class all over the second heat. John Marshall settled him in mid division before asking this second-season private purchase griffin to move forward over the last 400 metres.

The response was there for all to see and nothing went better to the line and he will be ready to go close to winning next time out. David Oughton has freshened up Congratulations and he was noted going nicely in behind the leaders. Stephen Leung has another really nice type in his griffin Diamond Fortune who dominated the last heat and is going to be winning one of the early griffin races. Back him.

Alex Wong Yu-on's staying type, Grand Prize, came through over the last 200 metres to run down the speedy Baskerville in the fifth. A modest first heat saw Lam Hung-fie's first-season import, Double Wins, go strongly to the line to catch Derek Cruz's New Leaf, who had led from the 200-metre marker. Double Wins hasn't shown much in his races yet but he has shown enough to win a race in his work. Yesterday's trial underlined this.

Chris Cheung's Twin Dragons went better in this heat, benefiting from having Walter Swinburn on his back though it has to be said, they were only a modest bunch. They were no better in the fourth trial won by Wong Tang-ping's Win Tack who is placed to win in Class Six. Lam's Bicycle ran on well and is one to note when pushed up in distance. He probably needs further than a mile.

The free-running Able Monarch was another to appreciate Swinburn's handling. He split the line with last-start scorer, Winner's Special, and surely has a race within his compass.

He went more kindly for Swinburn yesterday than he has done for any other rider. This third trial also saw promising efforts from Ivan Allan's Multi National, who is still improving, Hill's William's Tact, who was another to hit the line hard and Ping's Flowers Treasure, who never came off the bit and is worth a proper bet the next time he runs. Lam's Happy Birthday seems ready to win in Class Six, the way he stayed on in the seventh heat behind Chivalry.

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