The Jockey Club celebrates 130 years today and it seems almost that long since Key Witness won a race but he should make amends this afternoon in the 1,200m feature at Sha Tin.
In five starts this season, Key Witness (Douglas Whyte) has not finished further back than fifth but had his proper chance only once, when third to Teofilo Calva first-up.
Since then, some wide draws, bad luck and quirky tactical changes have probably cost him breaking through to win one but the Jockey Club 130th Anniversary Cup presents perfectly for the Tony Cruz-trained four-year-old to change that scoreline.
At his latest run, Key Witness drew well but found himself right up on the speed instead of sitting a little further back, which is how he runs his best races, and the chestnut got left in front too far from home when the leaders folded.
The horse who took the spot one place further back was Let Me Go (Joao Moreira) and the John Moore-trained gelding was in the ideal place to get over the top of Key Witness in the final stages.
This pair will set up similarly today it would seem, with Let Me Go behind Key Witness again and looking to run on late, but it will come down to how soon Whyte has to take Key Witness to the front this time.
The obvious leaders in the race are California Bounty and Precision King, pursued by You Read My Mind (Maxime Guyon) and Whyte should be able to camp off that group in the run to the home turn. There doesn't seem to be much else in the way of a pace influence so, unless the leaders get involved in a battle between themselves, those frontrunners might keep going longer today when the serious work begins and allow Key Witness to chime in later.
Whyte will be able to balance him up to join the fray at the 200m and he should be able to sprint hard enough to put daylight between himself and Let Me Go and get the result.
The Moore-trained gelding is a real danger, though, having been successfully reinvented as a run-on sprinter this season rather than a miler type. It has been a smart switch by Moore, as Let Me Go has always looked a better animal running on behind a decent pace, even over the longer trips.
Moore also provides an interesting runner in newcomer Apache Spirit (Umberto Rispoli). He will want a mile and further to show his best but did go nicely in his only trial and is fresh for a race so well short of his distance.
