In conditions like those at Sha Tin on Sunday, the horses to follow more often than not will turn out to be the ones expected to run well who simply failed, but there were some more obvious black book entries as well.
One was Hit The Bid in the fourth event, who went down by just a nose to Laugh Out Loud after doing a tremendous amount of work through the race.
In blinkers for the first time, Hit The Bid wasn't the best away, but jockey Karis Teetan charged him through to find the rail then hold the lead even when pressed by Golden Bauhinia and Mr Award.
Perhaps it occurred to Teetan to ease out of the speed battle with two no-hopers and perhaps it also occurred to him that steadying to the box seat might turn out to be a worse idea than racing them in the lead - sooner or later the other two were going to fold up.
So it was a difficult position for the jockey and he chose to maintain his place in the lead before going for home soon after straightening.
The tactics looked to have paid off when he was still clear at the 100m, but while Hit The Bid had been working hard, Laugh Out Loud had been conserving energy and that was the difference in the final stages. Hit The Bid has been threatening to win since his second start placing and it is only a matter of a race panning out more simply for him.
The other lightly-raced horse that jumped out as one to follow was John Moore-trained What You Dream.
The gelding ran two fair races in his first campaign before his preparation this term was halted in October with a fractured cannon bone. But Sunday's late charge, off the back of a strong pace, to get within a neck of Multiexpress was an indication that the setback was one of time only.
