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O'Sullivan banks on Fruity Fruity for even more success

John Bell

Paul O'Sullivan has been one of the big movers on the premiership ladder this season and his terrific statistics are set to be further bolstered when the honest Fruity Fruity lines up in today's Cumberland Handicap (1,600m) at Sha Tin.

O'Sullivan enjoyed solid success in his second season of training in Hong Kong to finish seventh to John Size on the premiership table with 34 winners but he looks set to easily eclipse those figures this term after already preparing 17 victors from only 114 starters.

New Zealand's former premier trainer now sits second on the table after 26 meetings, 12 wins behind tearaway leader Caspar Fownes, and heads into today's meeting with a very strong hand.

O'Sullivan's handling of Fruity Fruity has been most impressive given the horse appeared to be on his mark when he joined the stable after several successful seasons with Derek Cruz.

The other dilemma that O'Sullivan faced was that the Encosta De Lago gelding was considered a Happy Valley specialist and his days of racing at that track were numbered as his rating was on the verge of placing him in Class One events, of which there are so few at the city course.

Fruity Fruity won his second start for the stable at Happy Valley back in January before struggling at his next start when tried over 2,000m at Sha Tin for he first time in his career.

He returned to 1,800m six weeks later to land his first Sha Tin victory since making his debut on New Years Day two years earlier and he ended the season with an outstanding fourth to the young guns Armada and All's Well over 1,600m.

Fruity Fruity made a belated start to the season when lining up in an unsuitable 1,400m event 20 days ago and showed he was set for another successful season by running an excellent fourth to the promising Supreme Class.

The six-year-old looks to have derived great benefit from the outing and with a rise to 1,800m should be able to return to his best under the guidance of in-form jockey Olivier Doleuze, who also looks set to have his best Hong Kong season.

What stands between victory and defeat appears to be the David Hall-trained Hawkes Bay, who is racing in great heart.

The Vettori four-year-old is still chasing his first win for the season but lines up in terrific form after being narrowly beaten in his three appearances this time in.

He looked set to return to his best last start after finding the lead early in the straight but was left a sitting shot and Agility came powering down the outside of the course to register a nose victory.

Hawkes Bay appears to have trained on very well since the outing 20 days ago and looks set to be gifted the run of the race on the back of the speed under the guidance of Brett Prebble.

Agility has to be considered a contender again on the back of his victory and his chances would be further enhanced should the track have any moisture in it.

The John Moore-trained Wealthy hasn't had the best of luck this season but appears to be going well and lands in another suitable race with Douglas Whyte reunited with the Danehill gelding for the first time in two years.

Whyte was on board Wealthy when he landed his first victory back in March 2004 but only had two more rides in the following six months for a second and a fourth.

Hail The Storm is nicely placed on his best form but must give away weight to all his dangers, while Syllabus lines up off a disappointing last-start effort and is probably looking for something longer now.

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