Apollo’s Choice had his classic aspirations ended before they even started but the David Hall-trained Australian import may yet collect some cheques this season after a confidence-building dirt trial win at Sha Tin on Tuesday.
A two-time winner over sprint trips and third in the Group Two Sandown Guineas over a mile, Apollo’s Choice ran once over 1,400m for Hall before a tendon injury picked up in trackwork sidelined the son of Choisir and put paid to any chance of pushing for a place in the four-year-old races.
A gelding operation followed in early November and Apollo's Choice returned with a game unplaced effort over 1,400m after jumping from gate 10 and sitting wide in an on-pace dominated contest.
Stepping up to a mile in a competitive Class Two, Apollo's Choice was a sound fifth, hitting the front briefly in the straight before being overwhelmed by some race-fit opposition.
Apollo's Choice is now rated 83, down from 86 when he arrived, and yesterday's 1,200m heat win will have him up to the mark fitness-wise for his next race start.
Douglas Whyte has ridden Apollo's Choice at his last two starts and was aboard in the trial, getting a clean break to find the box seat in a slowly run trial. When trial leader Level Player drifted from the fence in the straight, Whyte seized an opportunity to give Apollo's Choice a nice blow-out over the final 200m, booting up on the inside to score by a nose.
Even though the overall time of 1.11.01s was slow on a track that has been playing faster than ever, the final 400m of 22.8s indicated that the final furlong was a decent test.
Whyte also rode trialists worthy of mention in the following three heats of the morning, starting with Tony Millard-trained sprinter Tonyboy, who hasn't raced for more than two months now but has been ticking over nicely in the mornings.
Whyte has locked on to Me Tsui Yu-sak's youngster Thors Bolt, who was feeling the effects of the warmer weather before the trial as he sweated up, but performed well as he settled behind the speed and finished under his own steam.
Francis Lui Kin-wai may look for a dirt race for Whyte's final trial ride of the morning, Born In China, who again showed a nice turn of foot on the surface.
A winner of the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot before his arrival, Born In China was gelded after his Hong Kong Derby dreams evaporated with two disappointing runs late last year and the four-year-old closed well in his first trial back.
