Demon Demon isn't anything special, but he produced another positive performance when second to Pure Force in the Hanshin Handicap (1,200m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
The Me Tsui Yu-sak-trained gelding went close in his first two sprint efforts at Sha Tin last term, but knocked up badly when stepping up sharply over 1,800m at his final outing. Resuming in September, he missed the start and was never a factor behind Silver Osmanthus at the city course before returning to Sha Tin over 1,200m for a never-likely 10th to Mr Ginger following some inconvenience at the 700m, but stayed on well with a drop to Class Four to finish third to exciting Little Cow.
This time, Demon Demon was an 11-1 chance from gate 10 with Zac Purton aboard. He was in no hurry and dropped to the fence second from the back, improved his position to have three behind him entering the straight, shifted into the clear at the 250m and split the early leaders Happy Ceramibo and Ocean Wide at the 120m to finish second. He came home in the fastest 400m split in 23.43 seconds.
Demon Demon was a winner of his final start over 1,200m at Kyneton in Australia on a yielding track and three-times placed from seven starts before arriving off a Class Three mark of 65.
The gelding is a four-year-old son of successful Danehill stallion Fastnet Rock, a double Group One winning sprinter in Australia and the father of the likes of Group winners Captain Sweet, Supreme Win and Sichuan Success.
His dam, Fiddly, is a half-sister to the consistent and versatile Born Dragon, successful four times up to Class Two - three over 1,400m and another over 1,800m at Happy Valley) - and has produced a brother to Demon Demon that was a sprint winner.
Now that he has come good, Demon Demon should prove a nice bread-and-butter performer for his connections.
