Cheerful Fortune all class in final hit-out

Hong Kong International Sprint hopeful Cheerful Fortune was the only local International entry entered in the trials at Sha Tin yesterday, and as usual, the talented son of Kashani came through his work in flying colours.

The powerful sort was always travelling extremely well behind stablemate Dragon Horse who made the running in the dirt trial. The first 600 metres of the trial was clocked in a speedy 38 seconds which allowed Cheerful Fortune to settle behind the leaders.

The runner-up of The International Sprint Trial looks in awesome shape, and clearly his exertions in his last event have taken nothing out of him.

He always works exceptionally well, but for connections it was comforting to see him come through his main final preparation in an impressive manner. Interestingly, there appeared to be one or two minor gear changes applied for this piece of work and whether they will be used on the big day is yet to be determined.

Making ground from back in the field was Caspar Fownes' Mehboob The Third, who rallied strongly in the concluding stages.

The trial has confirmed some promising trackwork of late and he does look in a fine fettle.

Sean Woods has opted to apply the blinkers to Recovery, who won the second trial of the morning. There is no doubt he has proven most disappointing this season, and although he did respond well to solid urging from Wendyll Woods, there was no marked improvement with the gear change.