David Hall will be pleased after watching Algarve make mincemeat of his trial rivals at Happy Valley last Friday as the five-year-old confirmed he is ready to make up for lost time following his bleeding attack in October.
Hall has Algarve ticking along nicely in his trackwork, with sharp and steady gallops since the talented but injury-plagued gelding's setback.
It was his second trial appearance and Brett Prebble made sure the horse had a good blow-out over 1,200m, against the likes of up-and-coming Exceptional Art, Cheer, Sichuan Success and Kyara. He was prominently placed behind the leaders and, once turning for home, showed the acceleration in which he won four races in a row in his brief eight-start career.
The son of Encosta de Lago clocked 1.14.45 and won by 2? lengths, with Exceptional Art keeping on well for second, and Cheer and Kyara doing their best work late, but a further two and four lengths behind respectively.
Noble Conqueror got the morning off to a solid start as Caspar Fownes targets one more win for the eight-year-old before the season is out. The Valley specialist showed his rivals a clean pair of heels to score by a whopping 61/2 lengths, with first-up flop Emperor Claudius from the John Size yard keeping on well to the line.
Fownes has mapped out a 1,800m event at the June 8 meeting at the city course for his 10-time winner and Noble Conqueror will take a power of beating.