'At 1,000 metres, he may just run out of race,' says trainer of Into The Night
Australian trainer Keith Dryden may be on his first trip away from home but he only has two concerns regarding his in-form speed demon Into The Night going into Sunday's $10 million Hong Kong Sprint.
The first is the 1,000-metre up the Sha Tin straight - 'it may be just a bit short for him,' Dryden observed. The other is Hong Kong's unbeaten star Silent Witness.
Respected international racing form analyst Ken Goodwill believes Dryden has every right to be concerned. Goodwill, who frames the markets for the Michael Eskander organisation in Melbourne, has marked Silent Witness a $1.75 favourite to defend the Sprint crown for Hong Kong and bring up his eighth successive win.
Dryden flew into Hong Kong on Friday and was on hand yesterday morning to supervise Into The Night, under track rider Chris McMullen, doing a major piece of work on the Sha Tin all-weather dirt track.
Galloping in bright sunshine at 9am, Into The Night rolled sweetly and fluently over 800 metres in 50.4 seconds, dashing up the straight in 22.7 seconds and covering the final 200m in an impressive 11.01.