Hall sticks to old formula as High Point comes good
David Hall used the old theory of strike while the iron is hot to claim an upset in the Chevalier Cup (1,400m) with seven-year-old High Point.
Seven-pound claimer Ben So Tik-hung had a grin from ear-to-ear after grabbing the day's feature event on the gelding, who was backing up from last weekend and backed down from 100-1 to 23-1.
High Point's last win had been in October 2008, and without a placing in 15 starts until his brave second to Supreme Win last Sunday over 1,200m.
'He had seven runs for me last season and was very pretty consistent without being able to win and kept running fourth - five times in a row and fifth another time - so it isn't like he has been out of form,' Hall (pictured) said. 'But the thing with these old horses which have had some problems like High Point, is to catch them while they are feeling good. It's hard to get them fit when they have a few issues and it is hard to keep them there when you do get them fit.'
With that in mind, Hall had rung the ownership syndicate last Monday to say he thought High Point should run again and with happy results despite three previous unplaced efforts at the extra distance.
'He's been going well, a bit unlucky to draw wide on the dirt first-up this season, but he ran on OK and then he ran so well last Sunday - I said to the owners that he was sound at the moment and if ever they were going to back him up then now was the time to do it,' Hall said. 'His previous form over 1,400m wasn't the issue that concerned me as much as his fitness. As he showed today, he'll run 1,400m if he is fit and sound and gets a bit of luck.'
The John Moore-trained Soaring Dragon (Eddie Lai Wai-ming) provided a blackout for punters by running second at 36-1.
But the long priced move on High Point was no surprise, with the betting market skewed when top weight Aashiq (Vincent Ho Chak -yiu) opened up a remarkable $14 favourite and pushed out the prices of all other runners.
Aashiq eased out by race time to be $21, but the pronounced favourite was heavily pressured in the lead during the early and middle stages of the race, fading to finish 10th, but less than three lengths from the winner in a blanket finish.
