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SCMP Reporter

ROSE Garden (Next Best) looks to have the fifth event at his mercy on tonight's equitrack meeting at Happy Valley.

  The Geoff Lane-trained veteran handicapper already has an equitrack victory to his name this season against better company than he tackles this evening.

 That success came over a mile with Rose Garden sweeping home late to win going away but his best form in previous campaigns has always been over staying distances.

  Lane has kept Rose Garden to shorter trips than the 2,000 metres since taking over the gelding at the start of the season before last, possibly because he has been a hard horse to keep sound.

  But the move up in distance is really what Rose Garden requires to perform to his full potential and tonight's trip should see him run his best race for some time.

  Lane, who has been quietly clocking up the winners with his stable jockey Declan Murphy, has found Rose Garden a very uncompetitive event with a number of his rivals unlikely to run out the distance.

  Patrick Biancone's Fantastic View looks the biggest danger, despite lacking experience on the equitrack.

  The son of Shardari is a resolute stayer and needed his last race when third to Oriental Oilfield over 1,800 metres at Sha Tin when resuming after a protracted absence from the fray.

  He should go even better over the 2,000 metres and was slightly unlucky last time when checked and blocked a couple of times in the run.

  But for those incidents in running, Fantastic View would have finished a fair bit closer than 13/4lengths third.

  Gary Ng Ting-keung's Bid Success is re-united with champion Irish jockey Mick Kinane for the first time since scoring over a mile on the Valley grass.

  Bid Success's style of running suggests that he is another who will derive considerable benefit from the move up in distance. He should be respected in quinella wagers.

  Crescendo has the second best form in the race after Rose Garden but, even allowing for the fact that he will almost certainly be able to lead by himself, he has to be considered very unlikely to see out the distance. His pet trip in the past has always been 1,400 metres on the equitrack.

  Mediguild, a fair third to Right Choice and Superior Dragon last time, looks best of the rest. He is a confirmed if limited stayer.

  Biancone, who may have to settle for second best with Fantastic View, can go one better with Helene Delight (Nap) in the preceding event.

  At his best, Helene Delight is a very handy type against solely Class Two opposition. He struggles when promoted to tackle the top grade but invariably wins his race each season when pitched in against the easier company.

  He put in a most eye-catching run last time when badly checked in the early stages in the race won by Saboatan.

  He has a bit of ground to make up on David Hill's Classic Warrior but looks to have been laid out for this race by Biancone who has his team in superb form.

  Classic Warrior remains the main danger. His style of running should be suited to the equitrack as he has bags of early speed.

   He was also a bit unlucky last time with his apprentice rider forced to snatch up close home as Apache shifted in across his path. Equitrack King Basil Marcus is back on board tonight.

  Be Glorious is likely to set the pace from Swordford and Classic Warrior in this contest which should allow Helene Delight to run home strongly.

  House Honour and Global Star are specialists over course and distance and must be respected along with Let It Ride who shapes as if a mile is well within his scope.

  Let It Ride didn't have much luck last time either but Lucky Knight has much more to do and may struggle against this quality of opposition. They are a better bunch than he has ever won from.



Rose Garden to bloom for Lane