Sound Gallop can continue trainer Wong Tang-ping's brilliant winning run on the dirt by taking tonight's fifth event on the Sha Tin card. The New Zealand-bred import is not much to look at with little physical presence about him but he's always been a good worker and it was just a matter of time before he showed some fair form. He did that two starts ago at Happy Valley when a close third to Kiwi Star and Tea For You, both of whom have gone on to win good races since. Sound Gallop was only beaten two necks on that occasion and had fourth-placed Nansen a further 3.5 lengths away in fourth which, as form judges will tell you, is usually a sign of 'copper bottomed' form. Sound Gallop then came out and, dropping back from 1,800 metres to a mile, ran another fine race when beaten just a length into third by King Of Unicorn on the dirt. That outing showed, as his fluent trackwork had strongly suggested, that he is a natural recruit to dirt racing. The form of that run and his third at Happy Valley brings him into tonight's race as the one they all have to beat, especially as he's now back to 1,800 metres having done all his best work at the death last time. The booking of jockey Wendyll Woods is another reason for thinking that Sound Gallop can oblige. Woods is riding with his tail up and looks a very significant booking by Ping. It is worth recalling that Woods pulled one out of the fire when scoring on Mighty Prince for Ping on the dirt and therein lies a tail. Woods went to Ping prior to Mighty Prince to ask him for the occasional ride, pointing out that he'd never given him one before and that he'd ride anything he put him on - 'the worst horse in the stable even'. So Ping gave him Mighty Prince who came into his Class Six sprint on the dirt with no form at all. Woods bounced him out of the gates, straight to the front and made every post a winning one. His reward for that touch of flair is the ride on Sound Gallop, with normal jockey the demon Douglas Whyte claimed to ride Key Man for retaining trainer Tony Cruz. Gagne Ensemble has to be a danger to Sound Gallop as he's an improving young stayer and another of these fluent workers that tend to race so competitively on the dirt. My Symphony put in a solid run behind Good Connection last time and also merits respect while Super Happy could surprise at big odds.
