THIS is David Hill's time of year and he is expected to strike in tonight's second event on the Sha Tin grass with the appropriately named Time Strong.
The first thing to remember about this evening's meeting is that it is at the New Territory's venue and not at Happy Valley. Turn up there and all that will greet you, besides the cross-betting facilities, is mound upon mound of earth and sand.
The second thing is that Hill is renowned for his patience, especially with his young horses.
He has given a typical kid-glove preparation to Time Strong, who landed a considerable gamble on his only start in Australia before coming to Hong Kong.
He needed the run on his debut, but still performed creditably to run fourth to Master Eagle over 1,400 metres, keeping on well all the way to the line in a manner which suggested that he would benefit from a move up in distance to a mile - a trip he gets this evening.
With only a limited number of races open at any one time for any one class, Hill had little option but to run him over 1,200 metres on his second and most recent outing.
