International Sale griffin Good Friends put in a much improved effort when staying on strongly in the fifth event won by Stoic at Sha Tin yesterday.
The Peter Ng Bik-kuen-trained three-year-old son of Dynaformer had looked something of a lost cause last season when trialling umpteen times and showing next to nothing, hence his unplaced effort at any old price on his only start as a griffin.
He'd come back into work this time round going slightly better but still nowhere near well enough to enter calculations on his reappearance when he duly ran 12th of 14 in the Sha Tin 1,200-metre sprint won by Great Chief.
But since that run, Good Friends had appeared to improve markedly in his work and yesterday he took that improvement on to the racecourse proper when flashing home down the centre of the track to finish fifth, having been out the back as they turned for home.
He was clearly suited by the move up to 1,400 metres and may even appreciate a further increase to around a mile.
