Stylish look to opener

Stylish can stamp his class all over the opening event on this afternoon's unusually inviting Happy Valley card.

The John Moore-trained youngster should be able to jump straight to the front and make all the running in a good betting race.

He will probably be a short price but the presence of Tony Cruz's big-money youngster Concert Star should keep him at fair odds against.

What's more, Stylish can be turned into a longer price by taking him in three quinellas.

Concert Star is an obvious and significant threat and thus the main quinella but don't discard For Szesze who has run two good races under Carol Yu and continues to work well.

Landlord looks a more than above average youngster and is also worth including. Earlier trackwork and trial impressions about this Peter Ho-trained recruit were confirmed with another good trial effort on Tuesday.

Importantly, Ho took the trouble to trial Landlord at the Valley on Tuesday morning and he never came off the bit in a heat run in good time.

In terms of the tierce, it could pay to include the Cruz second string Prolific Winner who has been working much better of late but was no match for Concert Star in a recent gallop.

And keep Ricky Yiu's newcomer Exceptional safe.

He has very good basic speed and also didn't come off the bridle in his trial at the Valley on Tuesday morning.

The difference between his and Landlord's effort was that Landlord's heat was quick and Exceptional's very slow.

With stable jockey Steven King on board Ace Academy rather than Exceptional, the latter could also be at lucrative odds.

They look to be the quinella and tierce chances and it is Stylish who is expected to fill the win slot. He had been working and trialling tremendously well prior to debut in a 1,200-metre Class Four contest at Sha Tin.

How unlucky he was to run up against Alex Wong Yu-on's most exciting youngster, Scotia.

Scotia ran him down in the last 100 metres and did so with a bit in hand. But not before Stylish stamped himself as an almost certain future winner.

He showed excellent speed throughout and had the others very well beaten off, which is nearly always a sign of copper-bottomed form.

Since then Stylish has moved fluently in the mornings and such is his inherent blistering pace, he should be able to jump and go straight to the front under leading jockey Robbie Fradd.

Elsewhere on the card, Dragon's Pal appears to have been set for the last event by trainer Francis Lui who is a shrewder placer of his horses than may be generally recognised.

Dragon's Pal is extremely competitive in these Class Three, 1,000-metre sprints and has edged back down to a most competitive rating of 61 - helped by being dropped three pounds for his last-start effort over 1,200 metres when that clearly isn't his distance.

Toy Baron should be hard to beat in the second as should Northern Flyer in the fourth for which Ho has Lickety Win absolutely flying.

Leave him out of calculations at your peril.