Jive Boy ready to call tune in Challenge Cup
JIVE BOY has been primed to take all the beating in tomorrow night's American Club Challenge Cup, the sixth event on the Sha Tin card which also features the Arc De Triomphe as the evening's final race.
Jive Boy showed his first signs of form when pushed up in distance at the back end of last season, staying on well in the race which was eventually awarded to Wang Tak Supreme following the disqualification of Diamond Coast after Damien Oliver had weighed in light.
This time round Jive Boy has come back into work going better than ever and his handler, Alex Wong Siu-tan, is most adept at preparing one to win a staying event.
These have been his forte over the years and he's certainly put the work into Jive Boy so leave nothing to chance.
Before his reappearance run, Jive Boy had been one of the most improved workers at the track. It was just difficult to fancy him over the mile in the race going to Bumper Star.
But what an effort he put in, finishing all over the top of them for fourth, beaten just a length by the winner.
Since then Jive Boy has again caught the eye in the mornings, especially earlier this week when asked for a very serious effort with his stablemate and useful sprinter, Millennium Reigns.
Wong Tang-ping's Winner's Special has also been primed for this Cup event and is going particularly sweetly for Darryll Holland. He'll love the trip.
Derek Cruz's New Leaf has also been working as well as he's ever gone and Brian Kan Ping-chee has revitalised Ka Fook.
Patrick Biancone's Jade Signet has been far and away the best worker in readiness for the opening Class Six event, even by his own fluent standards.
The fourth race looks very competitive in terms of its position as the first leg of the elusive Double Trio. However, two horses stand out from their work and they raced against each other last season with Big Mac not being overly troubled to keep Executive Action at bay.
Big Mac really floated down the back straight in a jump out on Monday when never coming off the bridle and still accounting for stablemate World Happiness who runs in the fifth.
But Executive Action appears to have made plenty of progress. He's also done significantly more work than Big Mac and readily impressed again yesterday morning in a very testing gallop with Ka Fook and Evergreen Light.
For this fourth event, Derek Cruz has put plenty of work into winning griffin, Lifo, and he's likely to be pretty fit.
Ping's America Supreme has come on for his debut run and so, too, has Tony P.H. Chan's Royal Horse who easily put a couple of lengths between himself and Space Rock yesterday morning.
For the seventh event, one of the less competitive races of the night, by far the best two workers have been Evergreen Light and Biancone's Royal King Prawn.
Wind Dancer has thrived since his first run and so too has the horse that beat him, Sure Win King.
They should go close in the last in which a number have been going well. Geoff Lane's Heavily Armed and Biancone's King Prawn are two such rivals and don't worry about Mount Hansen working very lazily for John Moore. He will wake up come raceday for his new trainer.
