Regiment heading higher

Three-year-old Eagle Regiment promises to lift himself well beyond Class Three next season and the gelding should cap off a fine first preparation by winning the Members Cup (1,000m) at Sha Tin today.

By the sire of Silent Witness, El Moxie, Eagle Regiment (Brett Prebble) looks a top grader in the making next season.

The Manfred Man Ka-leung-trained youngster has run five times for two wins and three seconds down the straight course, and he was most unlucky to bump into brilliant juvenile Bear Hero last time, when he had to concede him a huge weight.

Bear Hero won comfortably, but Eagle Regiment stuck to his guns and caned the remainder of the field by more than three lengths.

It is never an easy task winning in any grade with the top weight of 133 pounds, and Eagle Regiment faces some worthy opponents but, in winning, he can show all and sundry that he won't be out of his depth in better quality events after the summer.

He has the speed to be right with the lead if necessary but that won't be the case, with designated leaders like Dane Patrol and Stallion Supreme drawn directly to his outside and Prebble is more likely to camp on them before unleashing Eagle Regiment.

Weight students will observe the Tony Cruz-trained Space Race (Matthew Chadwick) meets Eagle Regiment one pound better for the nose margin separating them in a similar race in May.

However, Space Race had the best of the course from an outside gate that day when Eagle Regiment drew unsuitably low and the situation is reversed this time, and he has also had a mouth injury problem since his last run almost a month ago.

His major danger looks another lightly raced young horse in Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Share Of Gold (Eddy Lai Wai-ming). He did a good job winning his second start over this course in Class Four, overcoming interference at a vital stage.

Share Of Gold looks to have good upside and is in receipt of 20 pounds at the handicaps from the topweight.