IT was one of the quietest sessions of the season at rain-lashed Sha Tin yesterday as most trainers waited for Thursday's rescheduled barrier trials down the straight 1,000-metre chute. Indeed, the grass track itself was one of the features of yesterday's gallops. It positively gleamed green through the filthy early-morning weather, certainly appearing that much more verdant than on Saturday. However, closer inspection revealed that this was no more than a sleight of hand and the result of a generous sprinkling of grass clippings on the more threadbare parts of the track. And therein lies another tale. If the recent rains hit prior to an all-weather meeting, will the all-weather meeting have to be transferred to the grass? And can the grass track stand the amount of racing it is going to have to take before the end of the season, anyway? I do not share, at all, the highly critical views of the sandmesh surface expressed in some quarters, believing the focus should be on the meetings it saves from abandonment. But it would be impossible not to deny that this season the sandmesh surface at Sha Tin has not been up to the standard of previous campaigns. In particular, it has a much more worn and tired look to it. Those few horses that did work fast yesterday did so in the first hour of trackwork as their mentors wanted to get the serious business over and done with. The David Oughton-trained English import, Mazal, underlined his potential with a solid piece alongside stablemate, the veteran handicapper, Humdinger. They came through 1,200 metres in a useful one minute, 17.5 seconds with the Queen Elizabeth II Cup-winning jockey, Mick Kinane, on board Mazal who appears to be progressing with every hitout. Mazal probably needed the run when making his Hong Kong debut, staying on strongly on the far rail to force Basic Instinct all the way to the line. It was a very big effort from Mazal considering he is a young three-year-old, was taking on older horses and was only starting for the second time in his life. He'd been a comfortable winner of his one run as a two-year-old when trained by Richard Hannon and is well worth a second glance on Saturday night's Grand National card when Oughton, whose ancestry is steeped in jumping tradition including National victories, will be doubly keen on a winner. So, for that matter, will Kinane as it is his final meeting of the season. For the second time in three days there was a cracking gallop from Stephen Leung's Foursome who is so much more at ease with himself now the visor and the blinkers have been discarded. He went with Partner, who's flying, and Valiant Star, who is improving but has started massively under the odds on both his runs to date. Patrick Biancone's griffin, Lucky Afleet, has taken his promising debut run in his stride. He worked hard with his diminutive stablemate, Sensible Choice, yesterday morning. The latter is improving all the time. Meanwhile, the Stewards of the Jockey Club yesterday amended the Rules to prohibit new owners from moving horses that had been allocated by the Club to specific trainers for 12 calendar months without the written permission of the Stewards.
