Finezza to bring a lot of cheer for O'Sullivan
Young Finezza was a bright spot on what was a down day for trainer Paul O'Sullivan after the stable chalked up only a third from 10 starters on Sunday with Aashiq fading as the favourite in the day's feature, the Class One Chevalier Cup.
Finezza wasn't expected to be a major player at 19-1 against a mixture of Class Three and Class Four runners over the 1,200m in the Chevalier Igor's Group Handicap, but made a solid impact on his debut.
Ridden by Zac Purton, Finezza did everything wrong in the run - breaking slowly, getting his head up, shifting out passing the 1,000m, proving difficult to settle and was inconvenienced by Euro Power when trying to go through a gap at the 300 metres before finishing off strongly to be a whisker off Wasabisabi for fifth.
He is a four-year-old son of raw Red Ransom stallion Handsome Ransom, a Group Three winner in New Zealand, and juvenile-placed Quest For Fame mare Eagle Feather. It's not a pedigree that jumps out at you instantly, but digging deeper, the third dam is responsible for the VATC Blue Diamond Prelude winner Irises, who is the dam or grand-dam of black-type winners Purple Groove, Zapurple, Flying Fulton, Taikun and Super Groove.
His owner, Benedict Sin, has had a lot of fun watching Pizzazz go around and this one should be finding his way into the winner's circle soon.
John Moore moved to the front of the trainer's premiership on a countback with two winners and showcased another promising prospect when Smart Giant came up second best in the Class Two Chevalier China Property Development Handicap over the straight 1,000m. Best supported to start a confident 5-2 favourite, Smart Giant was outpaced during the early going under Darren Beadman, mustered speed to settle three lengths off the leader at the 600m and finished well to be a promising half-length second behind battle-hardened and nine-pound lighter Fair Navigator.
Like many of Moore's new babies, Smart Giant has an outstanding pedigree and went under the hammer at the 2009 Australian Easter Yearling Sale for A$160,000 (HK$1.2 million).
He's a son of boom stallion Pins, a VRC Australian Guineas winner and among the leading sires in the Southern Hemisphere, and is a half-brother to 2009 NZ Bloodstock Filly of the Year Daffodil, an eight-time winner from 1,100m to 2,400m of the New Zealand One Thousand Guineas and the Australian Oaks.
Smart Giant is bred to be something special and will be winning his fair share of races.
Another who is not far off a win is Sean Woods' Green Cash, who barrelled out of the pack in a speed-oriented race to finish on near-level terms with Hot Shot for second and a length off the winner Vitality Express in the Class Three Chevalier E & M Engineering Handicap over 1,800m.
He had mixed results in five starts prior to this effort, with four failures coming on good or good-to-yielding ground, while his only placing - an identical course-and-distance second behind Vitality Express on National Day - had come on a good-to-fast surface, which he struck this time.
