English trainer Andrew Balding got his wish at yesterday's barrier draw for the HK$22 million Longines Hong Kong Cup and now he's hoping Side Glance can take advantage of another fast, flat foreign track on Sunday as he did further afield last month.
"The key to him over the 2,000m is that he needed a good draw and I think that will save us three lengths," Balding said after the Mackinnon Stakes winner came up with barrier two.
"I hadn't seen him since Melbourne but, physically, he is as good as he's ever looked and he's moving really easily in his work this morning. He didn't lose as much weight coming here as he did going to Melbourne."
"He's been to Canada, America, Australia and now here. He's done his fair share of air miles."
Side Glance is right at the top of the merit order among the visitors this week in trackwork. Former Post racing editor Murray Bell reported that Side Glance was "lovely and fluent and it's impossible to imagine him not running to his best".
He turned in the best exercise yesterday by any of Sunday's contenders, coming home in 22.75 seconds and 11.45 seconds at the end of his 1,000m gallop and "doing it with an apparent minimum of effort".
The flood of European-trained horses to Melbourne's carnival in October and November has largely been centred on stayers, not middle-distance horses, but Balding thinks finding Side Glance's ideal conditions in the Mackinnon might have been the start of something.
"Travelling him has had an element of thinking he might not be up to winning against Europe's best but can do very well if we pick our targets. There is some of that but also he definitely wants fast ground," Balding said.
"What we would call good to firm at home is the slower side of good, which is fine for him, but anything softer than that he really struggles. So taking him abroad we can find the faster, flat tracks that really suit him. And I think winning the Mackinnon will have opened some European eyes to the fact there are other races in Melbourne, not only the Cup. And it's a million-dollar race at that. He could be trendsetter from that point of view."
Balding has been before to Hong Kong's showpiece day, carrying off the Vase with Phoenix Reach in 2004 as his one win but has not left empty-handed often.
"I think this will be my eighth runner here and obviously the Vase was a great moment but we've had a few others who finished in the first few as well. I think he'll run a big race," he said.
