Reach your Destination
Destination looks the way to go in tonight's fourth event on a poor Sha Tin dirt card to which only the diehards are likely to travel.
The Ivan Allan-trained youngster has always looked and worked as if more than capable of winning in Class Three, let alone against tonight's Class Four opponents.
But due to Allan's patient and highly successful training methods, he's just taken time to come to himself.
Now that he's begun to blossom, Destination must be followed. His past two starts have been full of merit.
He placed at big odds on the dirt two starts ago and then last time battled on really bravely to be denied by a short head by the more experienced No Competitor with Heading To Win a short head back in third over 1,200 metres on the Sha Tin grass.
It was a run from Destination which had future winner written all over it as he was probably up there and committed in the run sooner than ideal, but that was how he had to be ridden given the way the race was developing around him.
He then took a bit of time to respond due to his inexperience when coming off the bridle. But he kept finding and finding and the race should bring him along considerably both mentally and physically and he looks set to take all the beating in this 1,150-metre dash.
Allan has a great record with this type of slow-developing, second-season griffin.
The Eddie Lo-trained Forever Prosperous is the one that Destination must catch if he's going to prevail.
Forever Prosperous has always looked and worked like a sprinter and the drop back in distance appears to have done the trick.
Two starts ago he ran really well in a Happy Valley sprint, however, he was helped by an inside draw in the race won by Dragon's Pal over 1,000 metres and the third home, Toy Symphony, probably would have beaten him for second but for twice meeting interference.
Since then Forever Prosperous has run a really good race over tonight's dirt sprint distance when giving the improving all-weather sprinter Delightful Special plenty to think about.
On that form Forever Prosperous should run very well for the dual English champion jockey Kieren Fallon who will be ultra keen to get a winner early. Fallon is a much better rider than his mounts allowed him to show during his month's stint here last season.
Winning Express and Great Power may be best of the others.
Winning Express goes especially well in these dirt sprints and has been running well of late.
Great Power, a John Moore-trained debutant, has worked fluently and while he could be a little bit headstrong and a little bit of a freegoer, that is not necessarily a bad thing on the dirt which tends to suit these seemingly good workers.
The rest of the card has a bit of a nightmare feel to it. Asian Express should be hard to beat in the fifth but this last-start dirt winner is almost certainly going to be priced accordingly.
