GARY Ng Ting-keung and his new stable rider Randy Romero were at it again yesterday during a relatively quiet morning's work at Sha Tin. It was very much a case of the lull before the storm as today and tomorrow are sure to be decidedly hectic affairs as trainers put those all-important final gallops into their teams for Sunday's opening meeting of the season. Yesterday, Ng and Romero had their attention focused less on the weekend, more on next Wednesday's grass fixture at Happy Valley for which their highly promising three-year-old Sure Win King is entered in the first section of the Class Three 1,235-metre Kowloon Bay Handicap. Ng has astutely taken advantage of the voluntary demotion scheme to run the Class Two-rated Sure Win King against this lower grade of opposition. It means that he will have to carry a big weight but then he showed he can carry weight when a cracking second to Purple Gold over course and distance conceding weight all round to older opposition when still only a two-year-old at the back end of last season. Sure Win King's work yesterday suggested that he is going to run a big race next Wednesday as he clocked a storming one minute 12.8 seconds for their 1,200-metre gallop alongside his stablemate and good workhorse, Castlepeaktreasure. With Romero on Sure Win King, they came home in a particularly impressive and fluent 47.9 seconds for the final 800 metres. This kind of work is strange for Ng for two reasons. Firstly, he rarely asks his horses to run that sort of time in the morning. Secondly, he usually brings them along very steadily at the beginning of the season. It all points to a Sure Win King going close. The last time it is possible to recall Ng training one in this manner was when he was preparing Enthusiasm for the Sports Club Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup. He duly whizzed. It is also worth bearing in mind that Sure Win King put in an impressive trial effort when sent out very wide by Romero last Friday before running on strongly behind Right Way. But whatever Sure Win King achieves next week he is surely going on to better things over farther later in the season. He is still barely three and may not even reach his peak for another 12 months. Peter Ng Bik-kuen's Good Income finally got away with one on the final day of last season, having earlier looked unlucky when second to Kowloon King at Happy Valley. He then lost his way before coming back to form for that final-day success and appears to have continued in his work where he left off last season. He notched a level 1:17.9 under Tony Cruz. Jogador has done virtually nothing since arriving in the territory two seasons ago. He has consequently plummeted down the weights and his work suggests that he could now be ready to strike for his new trainer, John Moore. He came through his last 400 metres in a pleasing 24.7 seconds with stablemate Colours Hero who also appears to be going a bit better than last season.
