Coetzee steers 'terrible twins' to electric wins

They could be the terrible twins. Rarely do two horses have as much in common, with virtues and vices in almost equal proportions, as yesterday's impressive sprint winners Hidden Dragon and Multidandy.

The coincidence with this pair is astonishing. They are both Australian-bred, expensive yearlings and sons of the world champion sire Danehill.

And their mothers were both southern hemisphere Group winners, though in that department Hidden Dragon has an edge as his dam, Ballroom Babe, was New Zealand's champion two-year-old.

They came to Hong Kong and began their careers in alternative stables - Hidden Dragon with Francis Lui Kin-wai and Multidandy with Tony Millard, though they are both now trained by Tony Cruz. And yesterday at Sha Tin, they won successive races under the masterful guidance of Felix Coetzee.

Hidden Dragon, who had looked brilliant on the gallops this week, including one effortless piece of work when he clocked 22.2 seconds for 400 metres, registered an impressive 1:09.9 in relegating another classy customer, Amazing Victory, into second placing in the $1 million Class Two race over 1,200 metres.

Thirty minutes later, Multidandy made light of the apparent handicap of being drawn on the inside of the straight 1,000-metre course (with the rail in the C+3 position) and led throughout, always on the steel to stop the clock at an electrifying 55.4 seconds in the Class Three contest.

Coetzee admitted later to being in awe of Multidandy's speed and power, but warned there was no in-between measures with the four-year-old.