Hong Kong's sudden cold snap hasn't suited too many people but there's at least one visiting horse out at Sha Tin who couldn't be happier with the mercury plunging.
He's the German visitor Epalo, the World Series Champion for 2004 and he's here to make sure our own Vengeance Of Rain doesn't get the 2005 WSC title the soft way in Sunday's $18 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup at 2,000 metres.
Epalo is trained by four-times German champion trainer Andreas Schutz, who was recently granted a licence to train in Hong Kong for next season. And the man himself was on hand yesterday to watch his powerful bay stallion go through his paces.
'This cold snap has worked well for us, because we found when we were here in April for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup that he was getting much more excited and colty in the warmer weather,' Schutz said. 'In the cooler climate this time, he's been an entirely different horse - much more settled and he's concentrating on his work so much better. He's very well in himself.'
Yesterday, Epalo was handled by Elke Schutz, wife of the trainer, in a leisurely spin on Sha Tin's all-weather track.
The experienced horseman liked what he saw.
'After his run here in the QEII, we went to Singapore and he was disappointing [in the Singapore Airlines International Cup], especially when you remember he won the race the year before and really enjoyed the track,' Schutz said. 'When we got him home, we were looking for answers and found three chips in a fetlock that had to be removed. Since the operation, he's been just like his old self.'