bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Starlight Express put in a transformed effort to win the opening of five trials run down the straight 1,000-metre chute at Sha Tin yesterday morning.

 The Ivan Allan-trained youngster, who runs in Larry Yung Chi-kin's famous purple silks with the gold stars that were carried to victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup by Oriental Express, dashed 3.5 lengths clear of Derek Cruz's New Tone with a similar margin back to Lawrie Fownes' promising Rangeela in third.

 Starlight Express had previously appeared to lack accleration in his races, grinding home over 1,400 metres and looking as if he needed farther only to run his worst race when pushed up to 1,900 metres.

 But there was one very simple reason behind yesterday's transformation - the application of blinkers.

 So often the blinkers are seen to have this effect in Hong Kong.

 Elsewhere their application is much less significant.

 For instance, Peter Jones, who is now head of the British Tote, beating former Hong Kong Jockey Club chief executive Guy Watkins to the position, once conducted an exhaustive study at his own private racing publishing house, Trainers' Record.

 Jones and his team looked at thousands of horses and their performance when blinkered for the first time and found only two per cent performed better.

 Anecdotal evidence in Hong Kong suggests blinkers for the first time are much more significant and they certainly appeared to work on Starlight Express yesterday morning.

 He can now be followed when he wears them for the first time in a race.

 Andy Leung's Heart To Heart went well in seventh in this opening trial while Bruce Hutchison's Trobis, who could be the best horse he's trained and win a decent Class One event before the end of the season, was given a very easy time of it in eighth.

 Allan has a yard packed full of promising griffins and young private purchase stock.

 One of his griffins, Lucky Ahead, put in a strong win in the second trial in which there were also highly encouraging displays from Ricky Yiu's griffin, Spring, who has very good natural speed, and Fownes' griffin, Born Dragon.

 In the same heat another Fownes' griffin, Dolbridge, showed more than enough to be winning races while Allan's recent acquisition, Golden Bullet, was not extended to finish a cosy fourth.

 Lam Hung-fie's supporters had their fingers burned when Your Turn was turned over, at silly odds, on Sunday but they can go in again on the griffin Laser Pride, who made all to win the third trial and appears to have any amount of natural pace.

 The one worry about him is whether he will go right to the line under the added pressure of raceday proper and a better prospect from this trial could be Allan's griffin Air Force One, who made good late headway after slightly missing the start.

 Yiu's International Sale purchase, Me First, was another to go well enough in this heat.

 Geoff Lane's French Fry went easily on the bit in the fourth heat, as he should have given his rating of 75, while Leung's Smooth Edge did well to finish in mid-division in the last heat in which John Moore's Class One New Zealand import, Astimonti, looked in need of the hitout.

SHA TIN TURF TRAILS  First trial, 1,000m: 1, STARLIGHT EXPRESS (D. Whyte); 2, New Tone (W. M. Lai); 3, Rangeela (W. Woods). Others (in finishing order): Roman Imp, On Fire, Brave Ron, Heart To Heart, Trobis, Turf Star, Mount Royal, On Shan Speedie. Time: 1:00.5 (23.9). Distances: 3.5 lengths, 3.5 lengths. Winner trained by Ivan Allan.

 Second trial, 1,000m: 1, LUCKY AHEAD (D. Whyte); 2, Delightful Special (K. S. Yu); 3, Spring (R. Fradd). Others: Golden Bullet, Born Dragon, River Dance, Comedy, Dolbridge, Electric Power, Score, Walking Tall, A Strength, Aim On Kris. Time: 1:01.3 (24.4). Distances: 1 length, 3.5 lengths. Winner trained by Ivan Allan.

 Third trial, 1,000m: 1, LASER PRIDE (S. M. Tam); 2, Saint Galore (B. Marcus); 3, Everwell Times (C. W. Mok). Others: People's Choice, Rocketeer, Air Force One, Me First, Colourful World, Summer's Breeze, Splendid Gift, Trishul. Sunflower, Tea For Dancers, Scenic Star. Time: 1:01.0 (25.2). Distances: length, head. Winner trained by Lam Hung-fie.

 Fourth trial, 1,000m: 1, MONOPOLY SENIOR (W. M. Lai); 2, Win For Us (W. Woods); 3, Projectvision (B. Marcus). Others: Perpetual Harmony, Star Of Architect, French Fry, Gold Return, Plenty Win, Vintage, Fortune Dancer, Big Fortune, Spotlight. Time: 0:59.9 (24.8). Distances: 5.5 lengths, short head. Winner trained by Gary Ng Ting-keung.

 Fifth trial, 1,000m: 1, ELECTRONIC ZONE (D. Whyte); 2, Master Eagle (A. Munro); 3, Excel Kid (E. Saint-Martin). Others: Redrideninetyseven, Seven Glory, Smooth Edge, Astimonti, Brilliant Leader, Authorised, Full Marks. Time: 1:00.4 (25.2). Distances: short head, short head. Winner trained by Tony Cruz.



Starlight geared up for attitude change