He's back. Silent Witness, Hong Kong's greatest athlete, human or equine, made a winning comeback to racing at Sha Tin yesterday, turning potential defeat into an arrogant victory in the space of a few power-packed strides.
The $12.50 favourite gave his most ardent supporters a fright in the home stretch when jockey Felix Coetzee had to liven him up with the whip. But moments later, Silent Witness had the situation well and truly under control and the last part of the race was a coast.
Silent Witness racked up win number 12, at start number 12, in the $3 million Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial and confirmed his rating as the world's number-one older turf sprinter, an accolade formalised by an international panel of handicappers earlier this year.
Coetzee gave a premature victory salute as he sailed by Olivier Doleuze on Able Prince (45-1) but sat back down to push the five-year-old out to win the race by a length in the brisk time of 55.9 seconds. Second favourite Scintillation (Douglas Whyte) was third.
Coetzee said later he'd had 'total confidence' in Silent Witness making a successful comeback and maintaining his unbeaten record. 'Before he resumed last year, I had my reservations because he'd had a setback and wasn't fully fit at that stage,' Coetzee explained.
'But this year, everything he's done, every gallop, every trial, has been better than the previous one. I knew he was up to it.
