'Dr Pat' works equine wonders

PATRICK Biancone won't be counted out of the trainers' championship until the final day and he showed his determination to win the title with another double at Sha Tin yesterday to keep him in the battle with leader John Moore. The day began brightly for the French maestro when Wishing Well (3-1 favourite) obliged in the opener. The horse had clearly come on from his last start down the straight course and won readily. Then Free Spirit (5-1) added more lustre to Biancone's reputation by winning the fifth event at his first run for his new trainer. And what a vital run it was for connections. Free Spirit has enough problems to keep five vets busy year round, but 'Doctor' Biancone worked the necessary miracle to get him home in the Class Six, 1,400-metre event by two lengths. The spirited victory was enough to keep Free Spirit around for another year and Biancone, with more time to work on the horse, may well get this fellow up a grade or two higher.

Free Spirit is bred to be better than his form suggests but his tendon, hock, joint, feet and back problems - a list of equine ailments that would have had him permanently out of training elsewhere - have obviously held him back. Biancone said: 'When you consider everything that is wrong with the horse, it was a perfect result. It is difficult to know how much ability he really has because he does not get many chances to show what he has got. 'There is no reason to think about what we will do next. We must see how the horse is after this race, but he has won and he remains in training. That is good.' Wishing Well has also benefited from some extra French polish over the past 10 days. He ran fairly down the straight course and was so much better for the outing, judging by the way he cleared away in determined fashion to win the Class Five longer sprint. Wishing Well won by half a length from 40-1 outsider Precious Bobo, whose most recent form had been abysmal, with Auto Focus (10-1) finishing third.