Barrier trial performances this week by the two Hong Kong racing stars, Silent Witness and Vengeance Of Rain, remind us that the Cathay Pacific International Races are just around the corner.
Vengeance Of Rain, with race rider Anthony Delpech on board, made short work of a 1,200-metre trial on the all-weather track yesterday, posting a five-length margin over Happy Master (Eddie Lai Wai-ming).
It was like the Vengeance Of Rain of old as he settled down in fifth place in the field of eight and rounded them up effortlessly in the straight. Delpech asked him for something extra and the Zabeel gelding gave him the perfect response, clocking a very fast final 400m split in 23.2.
On Tuesday, trials watchers looked on in astonishment as Silent Witness met a rare defeat at the hands of straight-course specialist Flashing Star (Oscar Chavez) in the third heat over 1,000m, with the margin being three-quarters of a length.
Silent Witness is preparing to win the International Sprint Trial and the Hong Kong Sprint for a third straight year and nothing negative should be read into his defeat.
The trials are, after all, a fitness-enhancing tool and jockey Felix Coetzee said later that Silent Witness 'simply needed it'.
It was, by the way, a similar story prior to the internationals in 2003 when Silent Witness was, incredibly, beaten the same margin by the same horse, Flashing Star. But when it came to raceday, Silent Witness did what he had done in 17 out of 17 starts in Hong Kong sprint races - he won convincingly.
