While trackwork has been relatively quiet over the Christmas period, six barrier trials were held at Happy Valley last weekend and one who was put in the notebook was Ricky Yiu Poon-fie's Native Language, who led all the way in the fourth heat after showing plenty of early dash. The striking son of Royal Academy clocked the quickest time over the minimum 1,000-metre trip and clearly looks an above-average sort.
Ivan Allan's Joyous Cheers rallied gamely in second and, while the lightly-framed son of Housebuster may need to put on some condition, he leaves the impression that he is a late-maturing individual and there should be plenty of improvement to come.
Lawrie Fownes' yard figured prominently at the trials and Paobridge moved very well in winning the third heat. The lightly-raced son of Coronation Day hit the line strongly under Wendyll Woods and his winning ways are far from over.
Fownes also took the second heat with Acclamation, who once again displayed plenty of zest in his work. The powerful son of Mellifont had also shown plenty of promise in his work leading up to his debut, where he was something of a disappointment, but he should be given another chance.
Peter Ho's Always Zieten was also quite impressive in the same heat. After settling near the rear of the field, he finished off well in the final quarter with a little urging from John Egan.
Eddie Lo's Green Century has been somewhat disappointing this term, but the well-bred son of Danehill won the first heat over 1,700 metres. It would appear that Lo has a longer-distance event mapped out for the former griffin and that could well be exactly what he is looking for.