Sapphire should shine for Wong
MOUNT SAPPHIRE (Nap) looks the best bet on the card at tonight's Happy Valley grass meeting. Trainer Wong Tang-ping has his stable in fine form and Mount Sapphire has always looked as if he would be suited by this evening's 2,230-metre trip. He has that wiry build of a stayer. He put in a creditable effort when keeping on well to be second to the highly progressive So Easy over a mile at Sha Tin last time and before that indicated his staying potential when a short head second to Oriental Oilfield over 1,800 metres. Mount Sapphire was most unlucky not to win that day. Only inexperience prevented victory as he ran away from the whip. The dangers look to come from David Hill's improving L'Enjoleur who lost nothing in defeat last time when a close second to Monopoly.
L'Enjoleur has always looked the type who would stay well and now gets his chance to show his stamina credentials. His work going into tonight's event has been exemplary. He has never gone better.
Geoff Lane's Blazing Dragon is ready to run his best race of the season. He found a mile on the short side on the equitrack last time when he was noted staying on strongly to the line to claim third behind Dynamic Racer. This is much more his trip.
Those confirmed stayers, Rising Sun, Royal Blue and F Marcus and Allan combine again with Insider in the second. Insider has been a classic example of a horse showing improved form, having moved from a less successful trainer to a top-class handler. Horses sometimes improve when moving in the opposite direction, such is the revitalising effect a change in environment can bring about. But, usually, the stable changes to follow are when a top trainer gets a horse from a less successful counterpart. Insider has blossomed in his last couple of runs and looks to have been found a relatively weak event. He benefitted from a fast-run race when streaking home from Humdinger two starts ago and then ran on strongly when second to Golden Rule last time out. But he may just have to give second best to Eddie K. C. Lo's Cheguei who hinted that he was on the way back to form when fifth to Insider last time out. Cheguei is 14lb better for the four-and-a-half lengths he finished behind Insider last time out. Cheguei was baulked for a run that d having been partnered by Darren Beadman on his last start when he appeared not to stay the distance.
