Sydney takes centre stage
Despite the presence of two of the Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth II representatives in Super Kid and Best Gift, the show at the Tuesday trials was stolen by three-year-old filly Sydney Owner, racing in the colours of 'Lucky Owner' Leung Kai-fai.
Sydney Owner, a daughter of 10-time Group One winner and former Australian Horse of the Year Octagonal, was as impressive as hard-held winners can possibly be, taking her turf trial over 1,000 metres in 58.8 seconds - the fastest time of the morning on a track that was cutting out slightly.
Brett Prebble attempted to switch Sydney Owner off and settle her in midfield, towards the inside in this field of 11. However, the filly was travelling so easily and wanting more rein that Prebble let her stride at the 600m.
In a matter of bounds, Sydney Owner was arresting the lead and in a few more, she was off and gone.
The dark brown young miss skipped over her final 400m in 22.8 seconds, once again easily the best of the morning and 0.7 seconds quicker than next best Cheerful Master.
Sydney Owner, who raced in the colours made famous by Leung's Hong Kong Mile and Derby hero Lucky Owners, raced nine times in Sydney and once in Melbourne - in the Group One Thousand Guineas - under the tutelage of South African trainer David Payne.
Although her formcard says she won just two of those 10 encounters, Sydney Owner showed her mettle with a tremendous third in the Group Two Tea Rose Stakes over 1,500m at Rosehill last September. She was caught three wide without cover in that race but boxed on strongly in the straight and was ultimately beaten in a three-way photo by the best two fillies in Australia - Mnemosyne and Fashions Afield.
While Sydney Owner was defeated two more times in Group One company, it's instructive to see that the first of these, the AJC Flight Stakes (1,600m) was won by Fashions Afield, while the Thousand Guineas (also 1,600m) was taken out by Mnemosyne.
Sydney Owner trialled three weeks ago with an excellent second to Royal Delight, who then came out and trounced a decent Class Two field on his Hong Kong debut. With Royal Delight being freely touted to be in the action on international day in December, it all adds up to Sydney Owner being very hard to beat when she makes her local debut shortly.
In the only all-weather trial over 1,050m, Super Kid (Shane Dye) had a nice quiet trial as his preparation for the QEII on April 23 continues.
He would undoubtedly have pleased trainer John Moore with the way he extended in the final 400m under virtually no urging at all from Dye to finish fourth, some six lengths from Happy Winning.
Best Gift trialled on turf over 1,000m in the heat won by Cheerful Master. He was slowly away, by around a length, and balanced at the tail of the field. The Bahhare gelding found traffic problems inside the final furlong but then charged to the line nicely in the final stages. It was a much better performance than the face value of his finishing position (eighth) might suggest.
In the same trial, Oriental Magic earned his ticket back to the races with a late-closing fourth under the guidance of Way Leung Ming-wai. The high-grade galloper settled near the rear of the field, close to the outside rail, but made good ground in the concluding stages.
In the same heat, Circular Machine (Dye) showed he will be winning shortly with a sound fifth, beaten only 1.6 lengths.
HORSES TO FOLLOW:
Sydney Owner, Circular Machine, Super Snippets.
