Big Chief fit and healthy to take Valley by storm
Midweek racing action heads to Sha Tin tonight for the all-weather track meeting, but the barrier trial session at Happy Valley last Saturday may prove a good guide to finding some winners at the city track in the coming weeks.
The Paul O'Sullivan-trained Big Chief looks like he has appreciated his time off and appeared right at home in his front-running win.
A two-time winner in New Zealand over 1,200m, O'Sullivan had only tried the four-year-old at Sha Tin before his preparation was interrupted by a series of mucopus complaints at the end of last year.
Big Chief has been freshened up since his last start on December 19, jumped to the lead and cruised to a 1/2-length win over stablemate King Encosta in a time of 60.60 seconds for the 1,000m hit-out.
If he draws a gate at his Valley debut in the coming weeks, he looks the type who could hop straight to the front and prove hard to run down.
Trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing will also be pleased with the way his two winners Luckyme and Best Military performed in their respective heats.
Punters may not have forgiven Luckyme's disappointing effort last time out, but stewards have passed the gelding fit after his solid display to win an unsuitable 1,200m heat in a time of 74.23 seconds.
Interestingly, he has only started once at the city venue in his 37-start career - in January last year - and his recent change of scenery might serve him well on raceday.
Best Military will also take good benefit for a searching 1,700m gallop in claiming heat three in a time of 1.50.4.
There was just the one heat at Sha Tin yesterday morning and Multilove went like a scalded cat, stretching the field out early to lead by a good margin before tiring late and hanging on to beat fast-finishing Green Jacket by a length on the line.
