If anyone can get a horse into the first three it is that man Basil Marcus. The South African has already clinched his fourth Hong Kong jockeys' premiership in the past six years and that is an incredible achievement given the sport's competitive nature. His never-say-die style of riding is his hallmark and when reflecting on his season, which ended with that 11-meeting riding ban, the multiple New Zealand champion Lance O'Sullivan said: 'I think riding here has improved me. Guys like Basil [Marcus] and Eric [Legrix] do things that you just don't see Down Under. 'I've been watching Eric all season to see if something is going to pull with him but I'm still watching. As for Basil, he's a freak. He goes to the front, he appears to keep pushing but when you get upsides him, he is incredibly hard to get past. I just don't know how he does it.' Tomorrow night Marcus teams up with defending champion trainer John Moore for Virtus Pride in the fourth event, the middle leg of the Triple Trio. The Triple Trio requires punters to find the first three, in any order, in races three, four and six and tomorrow night any one who is lucky enough to do so will benefit from a jackpot of $14.6 million carried forward. Virtus Pride goes well at Sha Tin and he's struck an ordinary looking event in which his main danger may well come from Easy Fit on whom Marcus scored last time. On his most recent outing, Virtus Pride went firmly into the notebook when ninth of 14 behind Magic Fingers over 1,400 metres at Sha Tin. The distance was a bit on the short side that day but Virtus Pride also had absolutely no luck in running and he is much better judged on his head second to Ablaze prior to that. Virtus Pride has also been working as well if not better than he's ever gone since arriving from Australia and he should be able to run into the placings at the very least, and that is all you require for Triple Trio purposes. Easy Fit scored by a short head from Brilliant Forever last time, underlining O'Sullivan's remarks about just how hard it is to beat Marcus in a finish. That form has worked out reasonably well as Sparko, third, has come out and ground out a fair win since. The third event which opens the Triple Trio is well framed for owners. It is for five-year-olds (horses not owners) who have not won this season. From this race, the Wong Tang-ping-trained Hammerhead has been the pick of the work tracks in the past week or so. The brilliant young English jockey Darryll Holland has been partnering him through some very fluent pieces and Hammerhead looks ready to run right up to the kind of form which has seen him run Ablaze to a neck over tomorrow night's course and distance. Owners' Success must also be respected now that he has returned to form with a good run to be fourth to Amazing Grace at the last Happy Valley meeting. For those looking for a real rough chance at big odds, it could be worth throwing in David Hayes-trained Peony. There were high hopes for him a couple of seasons ago but he has had a heap of training problems since then. But Hayes is a master at working these problem horses out and Peony hinted at a return to form last time and he's been a lot brighter in his work over the past fortnight or so. The dual winning griffin, Lucky Partners, appears to have been given plenty of weight for his debut in open company - even accounting for his tenacious attitude. This seems to be a deliberate change in policy by the handicap department and reflects the considerable improvement in the quality of the griffins. A better banker may be Andy Leung's Green Maple who stayed on for sixth behind Tollway last time out despite having been severely checked. Watch out for an improved effort from Middle East Win at very big odds.
