National Glory has class to handle rise in trip
Promising three-year-old National Glory will relish a rise in distance in the final leg of tomorrow afternoon's Triple Trio at Sha Tin and should have little trouble in landing his first success.
With the TT only being partially won on Sunday, the main prize is expected to swell to HK$8 million, and National Glory looks a standout banker in a race lacking depth.
The Flying Spur gelding, a HK$7.2 million purchase at the International Sale last December, turned in a sound effort when making his debut on October 12 to finish fourth to Glenealy Elite, with the performance indicating he would appreciate a distance rise.
He again stepped out over 1,200 metres two weeks later with blinkers added for the first time and turned in a terrific performance to finish a close third to Didi and Megabucks after being forced to cover ground throughout. The John Size-trained gelding should be right at his peak after those two outings and will appreciate stepping up to 1,400m - he can show himself to be a horse heading to better races.
His main danger, and an appealing double banker, is the four-year-old Young Elite, who made a good impression when making his debut 13 days ago.
The Caspar Fownes-trained gelding settled back, covered ground, but ran on impressively in the final stages to finish third to Cosmo Successor, despite the tempo playing into the hands of the on-pace horses.
He will have derived good benefit from that experience and should get every chance from the inside alley, while others capable of getting into the act are Cosmo Successor, Amazing Journey, Amazing Venture and the lightly weighted Super.
The opening leg looks tricky, but the best banker option looks to be the perennial bridesmaid King Of Fish.
The nine-year-old has only managed two wins in his 85-start career, but has amazingly amassed 28 placings.
The Manfred Man Ka-leung-trained gelding was luckless in his first two runs of the season after racing wide, before turning in an excellent effort last start after doing early work and being left a sitting shot after finding the front 400m from home.
He should be prominently ridden from a tricky gate and take plenty of running down in the straight with his dangers likely to come from Pure Alpha, Primiata, Freebird and Headingley.
The middle pin is also far from straight forward, but with an ounce of luck, Golden Treasure should break his maiden status.
He had excuses at his first two runs of the term after covering ground, and there was plenty of merit in his effort at his AWT debut. He has always given the impression this trip would suit and he strikes a winnable race.
Breaking Point was a transformed horse when switched to the AWT last start and, despite a weight rise, he looks the main danger, while other worthy inclusions are Sunny Smiles, Lucky Tycoon and Bayview Greyslew, with the potential improver being Needles And Thread with blinkers added.
